Interview with another member of CUSW - “they carved TERF into my door at Cambridge”

[junipery]

https://archive.ph/7OFc6

I’m just a bit sickened, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, by how eager these students are to turn on their supposed friend. What a brave woman.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/13/i-dared-to-question-gender-theory-at-cambridge-students/

This is the article in the archive link.

Thanks @junipery . Yes it's sickening.
Her courage is amazing. Really hope the students in CUSW are supporting each other as the bullying is off the scale. It's as bad at other Unis too, but to speak up with a background like this shows exceptional bravery.

CUSW is amazing! It shouldn’t need to be brave to take the position that they do, but here we are, and I’m pleased that these young women are taking a stand. It really is time that more academics stood with them.

on a side note, does anyone know if this is an issue at all Cambridge colleges? Are there any oases of common sense?

I hope the pathetic little toe rags were disciplined for defacing uni property.

Godspeed Thea. It is like a breath of fresh air to see at least some young women refrain from grovelling and centering professional mimicry. No-one was like this when I was at university, it was like "Repeat the mantra or drown" / "Feminism is universal", and my all-time favourite, B-E K-I-N-D

When finishing university, I would ask whether I could keep the carved door, as a badge of courage.

I hope they have the courage not to be intimidated into giving up - it doesn't look as if they will but it must be very hard when they come in for such nastiness. There are probably many students who secretly agree with them but aren't quite brave enough yet to openly support them. I hope others gather their courage soon and join them, they must be feel pretty isolated at the moment. I've joined as an associate to show support but that doesn't require any bravery, I don't have to live with what they're experiencing.

Until I got to the part of the article about her being sexually assaulted, I forgot how young Thea and her fellow CUSW students actually are. To be 19, and afraid - for good reason! - and still to stand up against such hatred.

Brava, Thea, Brava! 👏 💪 👏

And the university does nothing to support them? Just find her another room. Great. Isn't it about time someone stood and said that bollix like this is not acceptable in British universities? That'd be our Bridget's purview, wouldn't it?.

@moto748e I gather the college did move her to another room but at Cambridge you can't really hide what room you're in anyway. Your name is painted at the bottom of your staircase.

I was a member of Life (anti-abortion) at a red-brick university in the '80s. We were allowed to exist as a group, give talks and put up posters. We had some posters removed or defaced and certainly had a few heated exchanges with other women, but I never experienced anything remotely like what the TRAs inflict on GC students nowadays.
Why have some women become so nasty, petulant and unwilling or unable to debate with civility?

There’s a current Cambridge student who has a tiktok account where he stops random students and asks them about their course and life at Cambridge. He did one recently where some of the comments were a bit non complimentary about the interviewee being a nerd. The tiktoker was called before the dean and accused of cyber bullying.

i would hope these students have also been up before their college Dean because what they’ve done sounds worse!

Kicked out?

Brave woman. It really is regressive seeing these people react to women.

Why are students no longer taught to question all beliefs including their own? What the f* are the academics playing at? They are not worthy of the name academic if they can’t teach basic thinking skills.

CUWS has proved very popular among both current students and alumni. I hope (I’m sure) this helps

I was a pro-choice student in the 70s. I went along to a Life meeting to see what they were doing. No harassment, no aggression. I also discussed my views with others and demonstrated in public. Again, there might be discussion or disagreement but not harassment.

Most Cambridge students aren't studying gender, or if it does come up it's only in passing. You can teach thinking skills in maths or Anglo-Saxon or history of art or whatever it is, but it's entirely down to the students whether they chose to apply these skills to the rest of their lives.

I fear you have an old fashioned view of academia. One that did exist 15 to 20 years ago.

However, it’s changed. The impact of the Brown Report, students paying tuition fees and the commodification of HE (encouraged by both Labour and Tory) has gradually transformed our students into paying customers. From being a public good to a private service. Leads to quite circular thinking. If the individual is paying for a degree, a job must be the end result a la Sunak.

Then, the increasing dependence on international students alongside the massive rise in international student fees means that only the wealthiest families can afford to pay for UK university. This too changes criticality. I self censor now and am v cautious about appearing to criticise any particular government or even any global firm.

The rise of commodification of HE has also led to the rise of professional services in universities. Faculty are felt to be too removed from students to understand what they need/want. The aim is to smooth their educational path and make life convenient. It’s all about attracting enough students to remain financially viable. Plus, general consensus is the student voice is always right.

Add in generative AI and the drop in critical thinking - for everyone - is evident and growing. There are some students who genuinely want to learn and appreciate criticality but for many, their education is a transactional process. I don’t blame them, this is how they’ve been taught to think about their learning.

It does make you wonder the point of teaching “be kind”. This generation has been raised on it and yet look how they behave.

@DrBlackbird It’s all about attracting enough students to remain financially viable.

This can give rise to pressure to give every student pass grades too. I have a relative who is an engineering prof at a uni that recruits rather than selects students, and he says he is 'encouraged' to pass (international) students who would have failed under the old regime. He says that he would be very nervous about crossing any bridge that they had built.

'Be kind' is not kind. It's idiot compassion, which hinders and hurts other people, notably women.

Right, yes, because it’s the TERFS who are hateful and seek to harm others…..

I agree. But 'thinking skills' are not transferable anyway. Someone who can think critically about Anglo-Saxon or medieval history can't necessarily (or probably) apply those same skills to e.g. gender ideology (or anything else!) because they don't map across. Which is why a knowledge rich curriculum in schools is vital, so that young people have the tools (knowledge of facts e.g. sex isn't a spectrum and DSDs don't 'prove' it is) to apply to arguments and ideas they meet later.

The colleges could assess students willingness to engage in critical thoughts through admissions... usually that's one value.

If I was in charge of a college and this happened I'd host one of the authors and make it compulsory attendance! Lol.

Possibly some alumni might put pressure on the college to tackle it. They rely on donations, even more so the ex womens colleges.

Thank you for your very cogent and thoughtful analysis. It makes perfect, if depressing, sense. It was different in my day when we weren’t allowed to get away with any sloppy thinking.

"Be kind" said to a girl often means "Hold still".