Scottish gender critical academic trained in security 'duck and cover' manoeuvres at universities

The UK government-commissioned report has said universities, including those in Scotland, allowed the harassment of gender-critical academics.

Universities have allowed the suppression of free speech and enabled violence and harassment of gender critical academics, a new report has found.

One Scottish academic has told how she was compelled to step down from a charity over fears the Scottish Government would cease its funding due to the association with her.

Professor Sarah Pedersen, from Robert Gordon University, who also endured no-platforming and aggression from students, said the charity’s Edinburgh head office said it was afraid funding would be pulled.

The UK government-commissioned report by Professor Alice Sullivan is a companion piece of research to a report earlier this year that found health boards, rape crisis services and police in Scotland had failed to record accurate data on sex and gender.

Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.

The report, ‘Barriers to research on sex and gender’, features personal accounts from UK academics, including those from the University of Edinburgh and Robert Gordon University.

They give evidence that those who have challenged the theory that sex is always less important than gender identity have been bullied, harassed and blocked from career progression.

In what is described as the most extensive research of its kind conducted in the UK, Prof Sullivan has collected and analysed evidence on the impact of a “hostile culture” that has developed in university campuses over the past decade.

“Researchers investigating vital issues have been subjected to sustained campaigns of intimidation simply for acknowledging the biological and social importance of sex,” Prof Sullivan, professor of sociology at the UCL Social Research Institute, said.

“When fundamental issues cannot be investigated or debated openly, this undermines our academic institutions, it hurts individuals and it compromises the integrity of research.

“The suppression of research often harms the very groups that activists claim to support.”

Prof Pedersen said she was “taken aback” by the number of research participants who wished to remain anonymous, demonstrating the “chilling effect” of discrimination against gender critical academics.

She thought “long and hard” about whether or not to go on the record, but said she was supported by Robert Gordon University, which has encouraged “academic freedom throughout”.

Speaking to The Scotsman, Prof Pedersen described her involvement at a situation at the University of Edinburgh, which became notorious because of an attack on the feminist writer Julie Bindel.

Prof Pedersen was on the panel alongside Ms Bindel and said that, before the event, the six participants were given a one-hour security briefing.

In what the academic said was an unprecedented step, the group was trained in “duck and cover” manoeuvres and how to exit the stage should they be attacked.

“One of the panellists was so frightened she went out and threw up,” Prof Pedersen said.

“And then, of course, Julie was attacked and I only found out about that as I was walking by myself late at night down to Waverley Station, so that was really frightening.”

Prof Pedersen said the same crowd of activists shouting have been seen at various university events she had undertaken.

The professor had written a book about the website Mumsnet and she faced attempts to have her blacklisted.

“That was brutal, to be frank with you,” she said, describing people who had never met her or read the book demanding she be removed from panels and events.

In some cases, the campaign was successful and invitations were rescinded, Prof Pedersen said.

Students at the university put together a “dossier” of “evil things” she was alleged to have done, including retweeting a social media post from the gender-critical former Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont.

In the report are other accounts of the personal and professional impact of universities tolerating and encouraging the behaviour of a small minority of staff.

Campaigns are often co-ordinated through LGBT+ networks, which are embedded in management EDI structures, the report found.

One of the most difficult scenarios involved Prof Pedersen being invited to step down from the charity she chaired.

The organisation’s umbrella body in Edinburgh said that Scottish Government funding might be pulled due to the charity’s association with her.

“I'm not sure how credible a concern that was in reality, but I think the fact that it was the head office in Edinburgh that told our committee this made it credible,” she said.

“It certainly made me feel that I could not continue in my role, because if we didn't get funding, and if the charity had to close or reduce its services, then I would feel tremendously guilty.”

Prof Sullivan has made 20 recommendations to the government and academic institutions to defend high-quality research and protect individual academics from professional and personal attack.

One of the routes to improvement, Prof Pedersen said she believed, would be a sense of leadership on the issue from the Scottish Government.

“Keir Starmer came out firmly with a position a couple of days ago, but we've not had that lead from John Swinney,” she said.

“And I think that until that happens, things will continue to stall.”

The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.

A UK government spokeswoman said: “We are taking strong action to protect academic freedom and free speech, which are fundamental to our world-leading universities.

“This includes 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.”

A Universities UK spokeswoman said: “We agree that universities must protect and defend academic freedom and freedom of speech.”

The organisation added: “These are complex issues. In practice universities are bound by law to protect the free speech of individuals who have very different views on contentious topics.

“They are required both to allow and facilitate protest, and to prevent that protest creating an intimidatory or chilling environment on campus or from preventing staff and students from pursuing their work and studies.”