Gender-critical academics experiencing ‘bullying and harassment’

University staff and students across the UK have suffered “extreme personal consequences” for upholding the reality of biological sex.

‘Report 2: Barriers to research on sex and gender’, commissioned by the Government, analysed 130 responses to a call for evidence hosted on University College London’s website. Report one concerned problems arising from replacing sex with ‘gender identity’ in official data and was published in March.

Overall, 58 per cent reported “self-censorship and chilling effects”, followed by “bullying, harassment and ostracism” at 42 per cent, and “barriers to publication” at 39 per cent.

‘Failure’

The new report cites recent investigations into bullying and harassment in academia. The report stated that several respondents to the Khan Review “suffered extreme personal consequences, both to their careers and to their physical and mental health, including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and extensive sick leave as a result of bullying, harassment and discrimination.

we have no documented evidence of gender-critical staff or students advocating for or engaging in behaviours such as attempts to de-platform academics with opposing views

“The failure to adequately support and defend these individuals is a stain on the higher education sector.”

In reference to Khan, it emphasises: “This is not a question of ‘both sides’ behaving badly in a ‘toxic debate’, as we have no documented evidence of gender-critical staff or students advocating for or engaging in behaviours such as attempts to de-platform academics with opposing views.”

In its recommendations, the report urges universities to “prioritise the pursuit of truth as the core principle underlying university education and research” and “help students to develop the ability to deal with robust disagreement as an opportunity for intellectual growth rather than a threat”.

‘Public trust’

Writing in The Times, the Principal Investigator, Professor Alice Sullivan, said: “Sex is a fundamental category in all research concerning humans, from biology to sociology.

“When certain facts become unspeakable, it doesn’t just hurt individuals, it compromises the integrity of scholarship. This weakens public trust in universities, science and scholarship, and ultimately undermines our democracy.”

In response, a Government spokesperson stated that it is “introducing new duties on universities to ensure they are robust in promoting and protecting free speech on campus. It also comes alongside the firm steps the Office for Students is already taking, through fines and new guidance, to ensure universities remain beacons of academic freedom”.

Severe fines

From 1 August, The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act and associated Office for Students’ guidance will require universities to promote freedom of speech or risk severe fines.

The OfS’s Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom, Arif Ahmed, said: “The core mission of universities and colleges is the pursuit of knowledge. Free speech and academic freedom are fundamental to this purpose.

“Students need to know that they can freely share lawful views and opinions, and be prepared to hear a range of views as part of their studies. This includes things that they may find uncomfortable or shocking.”

Earlier this year, the OfS fined Sussex University £585,000, ruling that the university’s transgender policy had caused a “chilling effect” on the expression of lawful views on biological reality.