Can you clarify? - Butterflies and Wheels

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Can you clarify?

Dec 3rd, 2019 | By Ophelia Benson
Category: Notes and Comment Blog

UCU is the University and College Union; UoE is University of Edinburgh.

The UoE UCU Branch is aware of a teach-out scheduled for Wednesday morning discussing gender and sex. While the branch supports academic freedom, this event will not be held under the UCU banner as it contravenes national and local equality and inclusion policy.

— UCU Edinburgh (@ucuedinburgh) December 3, 2019

Many have asked how, exactly, the event contravenes national and local equality and inclusion policy. Explanation has not been forthcoming.

You are an utter embarassment to #UCU and clearly have no understanding of what academic freedom is there for.

— Kathleen Stock (@Docstockk) December 3, 2019

Even another branch of the UCU is taken aback.

Can you clarify for all national members and fellow branches, how your branch perceives a talk about sex and gender to contravene national and local equality and inclusion policy? Also how does pulling such a talk actually support academic freedom? @ucu ?

— UCUCanterbury (@UCUCanterbury) December 3, 2019

One Response to “Can you clarify?”

#1
Naif
December 3, 2019 at 10:28 am

If universities are no longer going to serve as the locus and venue for discussions of where big ideas meet policy, they should probably have their funding adjusted accordingly. Just get rid of most of the liberal arts faculties and be done with it, they are evidently no longer fit for purpose.