Academic Freedom and the Gender Wars

Universities must sever their ties with trans-activist organizations if they want their claims of supporting academic freedom to be taken seriously.

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The Open University (OU) is currently facing no less than three legal claims from academics critical of gender ideology. The first is an employment tribunal claim for constructive dismissal by Professor Jo Phoenix, who was instrumental in setting up the OU’s Gender Critical Research Network. She alleges that the OU failed to protect her from harassment and that she was effectively silenced, forcing her to resign. The second claim is from a former Associate Lecturer in Law, Dr. Almut Gadow, who asserts her sacking “breached human rights protections for academic free expression.” The third is from a former PhD student, Pilgrim Tucker, who is preparing to bring various charges against the OU, including bullying, harassment, victimisation, and breach of contract. All three currently have ongoing crowd-funding appeals online. The OU is contesting the first two claims and has not yet commented on the third.  

Of course, the OU is not the only institution affected. The “gender wars” have impacted universities across the UK and, unsurprisingly, university campuses frequently serve as ideological battlegrounds for these conflicts. Some of the clashes are highly visible, such as the triple postponement of the screening of the film Adult Human Female at Edinburgh University. However, others, as detailed by Judith Suissa and Alice Sullivan are less visible, but no less damaging in terms of their chilling effect on open and rational discussion of these issues.

When these battles erupt on campus, university administrators grapple with balancing their commitment to academic freedom against their desire to avoid appearing unsupportive of “trans rights.” Too often, it appears, the louder voices are the ones listened to. For instance, only after the release of the highly critical Reindorf Report on the de-platforming of two gender-critical external speakers at Essex University in December 2019 and January 2020 did the Vice Chancellor reaffirm the university’s commitment to free speech and apologize to the two speakers.

In general, university administrators seek to present themselves as neutral arbiters in the gender war skirmishes, trying desperately to reconcile the irreconcilable. However, such claims to neutrality ring hollow, because, whether they realize it or not, they’ve already aligned with a side in the debate between those who prioritize biological sex and those who believe “gender identity” trumps sex.