Edinburgh University cuts ‘queer’ honours course a week after teaching starts

[Igneococcus]

I do wonder how many students actually did sign up for this:
https://www.thetimes.com/article/16f1a83b-48fc-4882-a6e6-811bca0bc231?shareToken=cbb8ae547b2d37c8972c7da351bed548

Thanks. Sounds like no great loss to this non-geographer.

Courses like this really seek to develop critical thinkers of the future.” Hahahahahaha

Are other universities going to copy this? It sets a precedent. Hopefully...

Susan Smith of the campaign group For Women Scotland, who won the case, said: “The market for diversity professionals who lie about the law is tanking and Edinburgh students are wise enough not to sign up to a course which appears high on word salad and low on legal content or an understanding of wider human rights which should inform human geography considerations as much as the gibberish and irrationality of queer theory.” Well, quite!

It sounds like one optional module in a geography degree rather than a stand alone degree course. I was prepared to be outraged on behalf of students who’d started the “course” regardless of the subject matter. But it’s not uncommon for modules to be dropped if not enough interest.

Three according to the comments.
My favourite comment so far:
'Oh thats too bad, they have just opened a big Queer Geographies factory in my town.'

Sounds a bit othering - narrowing down where all the queer people live or come from - or was that not what they meant?

“It is unclear how these course and programme closures will save money in many cases, and indeed, the Joint Unions Finance Working Group has expressed concern that such measures may actually depress the University’s income in future.”

Maybe stop by the economics dept and ask them why a course with 3 students might possibly not cover it's costs? I'm sure someone there might remember how income versus expenditure used to work.

From the article:

“Assessment was in the form of a 4,000-word journal.”

I am an (ex-)academic, and I cannot think of a more pointless, naval-gazing way of assessing a student’s understanding of a year’s worth of course material.

Hey ho, as long as the assessment learning outcomes align with the module learning outcomes and that box can be ticked who cares. 😁🤔🙈

My daughter who is doing a slightly niche degree hears a variation of that joke quite a bit :)

I actually think it’s a bit of a shame. It’s one unit- and I don’t like the idea of non traditional and slightly out there courses being the ones that get targeted when cuts are being made. My dd did her degree in Theology and Philosophy a while ago, and it was obvious that the non traditional units were the ones likely to go.

It's probably a 5 week course, and it won't be just naval gazing, there are probably weekly prompts - so 5 mini essays, referenced properly but can include pictures and look a little bit less formal.

I use a journal as part of an assessment where the student develops their research project, one week ethics, one feasibility etc and I'm full on STEM, it's not as bad as it sounds.

Why? It's not as if they won't have multiple other options to pick from. Not to mention that even if you pick some more conventional if you have half a brain cell you can most definitely pursue a non traditional element to that as part of the course. I know I did.

Sorry, I thought I'd replied to Twoloons... Otherwise it sounds unrelated.

A good course to have cut, especially if nobody really wanted to do it anyway (which is the best news).

Back when I was at uni in the early '90s, a module was dropped because only 3 of us signed up for it. (I don't remember now which one i did instead.) So I suspect this sort of thing happens a lot - it's just usually, no one else cares.

Yes, of course they’ll have plenty of other courses to choose from. But one of the purposes of university is to show you things you haven’t thought about before. Not just safe things. And be taught how to assess ideas and accept or reject them. One of the units that was cancelled, fortunately after my dd did it, was about women mystics and eating disorders. For example.

Hmm I'm sure there are.

I doubt it's that simple. It won't mean, for instance, that they save the cost of one tutor or lecturer, because they won't have recruited someone specifically for this course: it will simply be one of a number of courses one person teaches on.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. But courses such as the one described in the article tend to be part of a culture that does the exact opposite - encouraging discussion of only one side of queer theory, and actively - and sometimes violently - shutting down any alternative views. Jonathan Haidt’s “The Coddling of the American Mind” is very interesting on this particular issue.

Sorry? Sounds as if you were disturbed mid sentence…

It's fairly common for a module to be dropped if no one's interested in it. I've taught elective modules and been told I need to get 12 students to sign up or it's not running. It's just about the economics, but that's hardly newsworthy is it? imagine the headline...
'Studeǹts not interested in module so it doesn't run'
Fortunately I've never had that problem because most modules I've written are interesting and relevant 😇

I remember when Queer was an insult. Referring to coloured people similarly.

The course must have had very few or perhaps no-one signed up - which I hope goes to show that these type of courses will disappear.

Sorry? Sounds as if you are being rude and can't comprehend there being lots of other challenging course available at university which are actually based within law and the boundaries of science rather than fantasy and abuses of power.

In terms of it being available as part of geography it will be about demographics and understanding how the population is made up.

This is problematic when the census fucked it and they don't know how to record statistics properly and would be a much better starting point in terms of usefulness and also stretching yourself.

Other religions are also available.

Now we'll never know if Dafydd really was the only gay in the village.