The Jo Phoenix case exposed a “shocking failure of leadership in the sector”, according to an academic leading a government-ordered review of the use of sex and gender questions in research, prompting a vice-chancellor to agree the case was “an astounding indictment of British higher education”.
Alice Sullivan, professor of sociology at UCL and head of research at its Social Research Institute, and Adam Habib, director of SOAS University of London, were speaking at a Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) event on how university governors and managers can support free speech, where the University of Reading’s vice-chancellor also described the University and College Union as “an example of an echo chamber in higher education”.
One key point of discussion was the case of Professor Phoenix, whom an employment tribunal recently ruled had faced a “hostile environment” at the Open University and discrimination and harassment from colleagues because of her belief that people cannot change their biological sex. She left her post as a professor of criminology at the OU in December 2021 to join Reading.
Professor Sullivan, who is leading a review of the use of sex and gender questions in scientific research and statistics, said the case illustrated that the OU had shown a “profound misunderstanding of what academic freedom is and what it’s for. Harassment and bullying are not protected speech, and attempts to silence others through public shaming and smears have nothing to do with furthering research and education – quite the opposite.
