Prof Jo Phoenix vs The OU - Employment Tribunal Thread 6

[ickky]

Started on 2nd October at Watford Employment Tribunal (Radius House, 51 Clarendon Rd, Watford WD17 1HP 01923 281750)

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URGENT CURRENT CASE - Public Access Request - J Phoenix - The Open University - 3322700/2021

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Abbreviations

JP - Jo Phoenix, Claimant (C)
OU - The Open University, Respondent (R)
J - Regional Employment Judge Young
P - Panel or panel member
BC - Ben Cooper KC, Counsel for C
JM - Jane Mulcahy KC, Counsel for R
OU Departments & Networks:
HWSRA - Health & Wellbeing Strategic Research Area
FASS - Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
SPC - Dept of Social Policy & Criminology
KMi - Knowledge Media Institute
GCRN - Gender Critical Research Network

OU witnesses

PB - Dr Paraskevi Boukli, Former Senior Lecturer Criminology, Deputy Head SPC 2021-22
IF - Prof Ian Fribbance Dean of FASS
MW - Prof Marcia Wilson, Dean EDI, 2020-23
CM - Caragh Molloy, Group People Director 2019-23
LD - Dr Leigh Downes, Senior Lecturer in Criminology (in SPC), Academic Lead for EDI FASS 2019-21
PK - Peter Keogh, Professor Health & Society, Member RSSH
CW - Dr Christopher Williams, Senior Lecturer History
KS - Kevin Shakesheff. PVC for Research and Innovation
DD - Dr Deborah Drake, Senior Lecturer Criminology, Head of SPC 2018-21
CT - Catherine Tomlinson, Senior Student Advisor
LW - Louise Westmarland, Prof of Criminology, Co-Deputy Head SPC, 2018-21, Current Head SPC
JD - John Domingue, Prof of Computing Science, Director KMi, 2015-22
SD - Shaun Daley, Head OU’s Resourcing Hub. Head Strategic Resources, Co-Chair OU’s LGBT+ Staff Network
HBC - Helen Bowes-Catton, Lecturer Social Research Methods
NS - Nicola Snarey, Assoc Lecturer Eng Language
NatS - Natalie Starkey, Outreach & Public Engagement Officer Sch Physical Sciences, 2019-22
CT - Cath Tomlinson, Senior Student Advisor
SJ - Samantha Jacobson, Employee Relations Case Manager
RH - Richard Holliman, Prof Engaged Research, Head School Environment, Earth & Ecosystem Sciences, 2019-22. Member of Investigation Panel investigating the C’s grievance

Witness for JP:

SE - Sarah Earle, Professor Modern History Uni of Oxford, Founding member GCRN

Tribunal Tweets - twitter.com/tribunaltweets

TT coverage so far - https://tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/professor-jo-phoenix-v-the-open-university

Prof Jo Phoenix Witness Statement (scroll to bottom of page and download)

jophoenix.substack.com/p/phoenix-v-open-university?sd=pf

Thread 1 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4905118-jo-phoenix-vs-the-ou-employment-tribunal-2nd-october-whispers-ben-cooper?page=1

Thread 2 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4913946-prof-jo-phoenix-vs-the-ou-employment-tribunal-thread-2?page=1

Thread 3 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4917480-prof-jo-phoenix-vs-the-ou-employment-tribunal-thread-3

Thread 4 www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4918479-prof-jo-phoenix-vs-the-ou-employment-tribunal-thread-4

Thread 5 https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/4919223-prof-jo-phoenix-vs-the-ou-employment-tribunal-thread-5

Not anonymous, non-existent constituent.

It's all a bit of a DARVO, the "trans member of staff" was being abused online by TRAs, so Domingue thought he'd give the TRAs what they wanted and then blamed the GCRN by signing the open letter etc.

(never heard of Athena Swan before, off to google)

Athena Swan used to promote women in STEM in universities. It has gradually been extended to promote both sexes into all subjects, and also it's been genderified. (It's also being intersectionalised which may be OK depending what they think that means, but I haven't investigated.) I'm still slightly involved but I find it harder to care than I used to.

Athena Swan is one of the reasons I dumped UCU. My STEM subject is very low on female students and we organise a few events for them which gives us Athena Swan credit. If I got in trouble over sex vs gender (either way round) I'd want my union to have my back but lost confidence in UCU after Kathleen Stock. UCU's loss is Affinity's gain.

Appreciation to @ickky and to everyone who's listening in and posting for the rest of us. Having a Peter Gabriel moment:

I don't remember
I don't recall
I got no memory of anything
. . . anything at all!

I would normally log off in a break and then straight back in to the waiting room and then go off and do stuff so I was let in automatically when it started.. Given Justin's grumpiness this morning, there's no way I'm logging off now because he won't let me back in!

I worked with her father. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree as far as talking bollocks goes. I also have an idea as to the person she is talking about. Another young person used to prop up an iffy position. It disgusts me to see these young people used so cynically.

It's legitimately insane. One person trumps everyone else. Not workable on a larger scale.

All these people need to be put in a room with 10 toddlers and have to manage their competing demands / needs for a week. That would help.

Obviously I'd recommend some sensible other adults to be there too to observe and intervene when anything actually dangerous is about to happen due to insane overindulgence to tantrumming, because I don't hold out much hope of them being good at it.

It seems to me that an acute failure of leadership at the OU on this matter led a significant number of faculty members to think they had the right and might to individually decide what academic freedom meant at the OU, what constituted transphobia and the degree to which GC rights were "protectable" when faced with dissenting voices.

Justin finally chucked everyone out.

TT commentary

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1714197561441952215.html

I wonder how many of the staff in KMI are quietly gender critical and whether this man thought about the effect on them for even a second

I've got an academic friend who was asked to be on an Athena Swan committee. Said it was complete windbaggery with nothing practical to help women academics in STEM with their main barrier to continued participation which is (affordable, good) childcare. Apparently the mostly childless attendees liked the meetings to run over (much pontification) and often the meetings were scheduled later in the day spanning school pick up. Friend simply stopped going to the meetings after a while they were so useless (and conflicted with school pick up too).

It's the same thing as we've heard here - substance-less virtue signalling. But the waste of money is extreme.

I should have added 'flexible' to the 'affordable' 'good' childcare. Many school after school clubs (at least where I live) don't run beyond 4.30pm.

@ickky Sarah Earle is a professor at the OU, not Oxford, and wasn’t a member of the GCRN. She was head of the HWSRA.

My uni is still plodding along with Athena Swan. We do some good (I think!) It stops management from totally ignoring the issue and it gets female staff involved at all levels so we have some input we wouldn't get otherwise.

I know, I keep forgetting to amend it. Thank you

I've been struck by something else by these threads - there's a good reason why our resident scolds avoid these threads like the plague (as opposed to the pronoun/name badge type ones). I'm fairly well up on this debate and I would say fairly intelligent but the posters on these threads leave me standing. There's so many bits of legal technicality or links to other previous cases or specific terminology which I just wouldn't pick up.

So thank you to you all!

JD - I had a discussion with other members of kmi but I was the lead and main author of the statement

J: Did KS give you any comments to change the statement?

JD: no

J: Did you write the statement yourself or with others

JD: discussions, but I was lead and main author

And I wonder who helped him write it?

Judge, so you have giving me the reasons, none of them are neutral! 😂

JD: I put in a sentence for the t coming-out person

J: which was?

JD: not only but esp in pride month the health and wellbeing of t and nb staff and people across the globe is paramount

J: none of your reasons give neutrality

JD: balancing concerns is a better description

J- non of your reasons include neutrality...
JD - I think 'balancing' is a better term

How can he say he's balancing different concerns when only one set of concerns, one side, one tiny subset of staff / students are being prioritised and to hell with everyone else.

And once we'd discriminated and got rid of the network we took down our statement- does he not realise that's still discriminatory

Yes on that see saw, someone's arse is on the floor.