Universities which are less ‘captured’ by gender ideology

[percypig]

Morning, this thread has been inspired by one about a survey in Leeds and by recent coverage of events at universities across the UK.

My eldest DC is starting to look at universities for 2024 and in my working life as a teacher I’m often talking to 6th formers about their Uni choices.

I’m wondering if anyone has experience of universities which are, as my title says, ‘less captured’ than others? Or conversely, others were being gender critical could make for a really unpleasant university experience.

Students and families weigh up all sorts of criteria from en-suites to job prospects, clubs and societies on offer to lab facilities. Given recent events I’d also like to know how open universities and their students are to gender critical beliefs.

@Sparklybutold are you able to elaborate re Staffordshire at all, please?

DMU had a pretty captured students union but avoidable for the rest of the campus approach when I was there. Think it might have gone a bit more gender-feels since then though. Considering the SU did the square root of fuck all - very avoidable.

I think, similar to another poster, it can vary between staff members.

I recently graduated from university of Herts, in the history dept.

One staff member was (as one would hope), open for a sensible and respectful debate between everyone in a seminar meeting (a group of 5 students plus himself- myself strongly GC, two female students who didn’t know much about it but were GC during the discussion, one on the fence, one gay guy who had T friends, was probably more TWAW leaning, but understood concerns and agreed that in some circumstances sex mattered more than gender). He did a brilliant job of letting everyone speak and put their ideas across, asked hypothetical questions, made everyone feel as if their points were valid etc. (He was actually a fabulous lecturer, and generally wonderful and encouraging throughout the course).

Another lecturer, same dept, completely captured, shut down any comment that didn’t tow the line. Even the guy mentioned above who was more TWAW leaving, looked quite taken aback at her militancy. She was great at helping students get the best from their work/explaining how to improve, but on this issue it was as if she felt this was the one and only acceptable response. No debate.

The conversations came about due to discussing a book called ‘female husbands- a trans history’- which the second lecturer had put on her reading list, and was one of a choice of three to base two assignments on.

Hartpury isn’t, but then that’s not a surprise given the nature of the subjects on offer - agriculture, equine, animal (inc Zoology) and an excellent rugby development programme / sports programme, which as far as I know is not of the TWAW persuasion.