UCU being taken to tribunal over discrimination for 'gc' views

[ArabellaScott]

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/gender-critical-documentary-makers-take-ucu-tribunal

The filmmakers of 'Adult Human Female' are taking UCU to tribunal.

I'll try to find an archive copy.

I second this - I'm not on X and I somehow never land on the current page on the TT substack.

And SigourneyHoward wins the internet for politeness with that post

As I recall it SidewaysOtter, 10am was the deadline for written submissions to be provided to the panel with oral submissions to follow a bit later.

Pooling characters from different soaps is the sort of thing which used to happen on Comic Relief. I think I remember one with Eastenders and Coronation Street.

I don’t watch it any more, but I’ve been shown this sketch , which I enjoyed. One of the actors plays the wife/ girlfriend of the lead actor (‘twas ever thus) in two BBC1 programmes: Not Going Out and Beyond Paradise. The sketch is based on them meeting. There’s a reference at the end to her part in another programme, possibly a Channel 5 one.

Looking like 11am now.

https://tribunaltweets.substack.com/p/adult-human-female-filmmakers-vs

(I tried to include links to the actual sessions, but the auto-formatting here destroyed all of the links.)

Abject apologies, I haven't RTFT, but what should I do if I haven't had a reply to my request for remote access yet? Is it ok to keep asking, or will they just get round to it or not, as the case may be?

TIA

I was working on “Start at 10am, then read the written submissions, allow 30 minutes for each,” but I didn’t know if those were going to be read concurrently or consecutively. The panel would need to read both but R and C would only need to read the other’s.

I think they said about an hour for reading submissions

Times Higher Education have an interesting article today:Trans policies vanish from university websites after Sussex fine

Last week, the University of Sussex was fined a record £585,000 by the Office for Students, with the regulator accusing the institution of “failing to uphold freedom of speech and academic freedom” while handling the resignation of gender-critical professor Kathleen Stock. The case has prompted “anxiety” among English universities, legal experts tell Times Higher Education, with several institutions now appearing to feel the need to review their own trans equality policies for fear of similar rulings. Leeds, Exeter and Essex are among the universities to have updated their websites recently, removing documents or adding notices that trans inclusion policies are “under review”. “We’ve certainly had a number of conversations with institutions off the back of the decision. The main theme is anxiety that institutions cannot be sure if they are compliant or not,” says Smita Jamdar, partner and head of education at Shakespeare Martineau. “Complaints involving harassment, protected beliefs and freedom of expression were already complicated to handle even before the OfS decision and institutions may feel even less confident navigating the issues now.”

ThatPithySheep - good stuff! It's all so complicated isn't it, pesky laws about not discriminating. Part of me thinks one of the reasons misogyny isn't a hate crime is the amount of mainstream TV content the BBC would have to bin.

Archive version: https://archive.ph/hODyv

Although maybe the deadline for providing the written submissions is 11am:

https://x.com/tribunaltweets/status/1907825414312980723

The main theme is anxiety that institutions cannot be sure if they are compliant or not,” says Smita Jamdar, partner and head of education

Now where can they go to get the right advice...? Definitely not Stonewall! Anyhow, that is EXCELLENT news. Funny how the threat of huge fines focuses the mind!😂

Thanks @NotAtMyAge I didn't know how to log on to the article

And @IHeartHalloumi misogony is not a hate crime because the police said they wouldn't be able to cope with the volume

Interesting. My university still has it trans policy up. Stating that the term "gender dysphoria" must never be used as it's outdated and offensive, and that trans people have the "legal right" to access the changing room of their choice.

I wonder what will happen to all the ' Non Binary Liberation Officers ' If Universities change their trans policies? I laughed my head off when that came up, I can't believe something like that exists in the real world! Tho universities don't exactly live in the real world, as we have seen...

Personally I think the volume of misogyny is a compelling reason to make it illegal! The police fail to keep on top of many (most?) crimes anyway what's one more statute?

It was “sort it out yourselves and tell us tomorrow,” which made me think they might have met at 10am to say what they had sorted out.

I agree. Rape is a crime but rarely prosecuted. It's important crimes against women are recognised. Although it would need to be clearly sex based (and I think this is why some feminists are against it - they fear it would be another tool to punish biological women who speak out about the Katie Dolatowski male type of 'women').

I agree, I think there being a high rate of misogyny is a real to actually take it seriously, but the police clearly don't. Besides they are very busy with all their work to warn people they may be committing a crime if they write hurty words

I wonder what will happen to all the ' Non Binary Liberation Officers ' If Universities change their trans policies?

I believe they will be rehabilitated before being carefully released back into the wild. It is hoped that with time and patience they can reintegrate into society.

I suspect what will happen is they will look at their policies, and see which bits (like Sussex) they just cut and pasted from a stonewall template and remove those. I have to say, it shows a real lack of academic rigour that policies were produced without a lot of thought as to whether the text they were being given was legal

As the Students' Union and UCU are separate from the university, I imagine they will double down and have even more of them. It will be "proof" that they are the Most Vulnerable and in need to the greatest resources. My university has four SU reps for the various permutations of gender identity. And one Women's Officer (who at least is a woman). It says a lot about SU priorities at a time when sexual assaults on female students are an acknowledged problem.

Hearing resumes at 1.30pm

I know we try to avoid making these threads personal, but it’s important to recognise when objectivity is overtaken by personal connections. It’s not the first time.

Thank you. How do you know?

I’d left for a Zoom meeting.