University ‘failed to protect and support’ lecturers who were targeted in ‘campaign of intimidation and harassment over wanting to quit Stonewall scheme, fellow academics reveal
- Cardiff University staff say they were vilified for querying its links with Stonewall
- Their names and pictures were printed on leaflets branding them ‘transphobic’
- Leaflets featured a cartoon of a woman with a gun and ‘knee capping’ threats
- 23 academics called for action from the university president and vice chancellor
Academics have condemned a leading university after trans rights activists targeted colleagues who wanted to cut ties with Stonewall.
They accused Cardiff of failing to ‘protect and support’ lecturers who had urged the institution to review its membership of a scheme run by the gay rights campaigning group.
Staff members at the South Wales campus have faced a ‘campaign of intimidation and harassment’ for raising concerns about freedom of speech in relation to transgender rights.
Their names and photographs were circulated on leaflets which branded them ‘transphobic’ and featured a cartoon of a woman holding a gun, while ‘knee capping and throat punching’ threats were made on the university’s LGBT+ society’s official Facebook page.
Twenty-three academics across the country have now signed a letter to protest about the ‘relentless harassment’.
The row began when 16 academics at Cardiff University wrote to Professor Riordan last June, arguing that it was ‘inappropriate’ for Stonewall to be ‘embedded’ within the institution
They have demanded that president and vice chancellor Professor Colin Riordan and deputy vice chancellor Professor Damian Walford Davies ‘denounce the threats of student activists seeking to undermine academic speech and reasonable discourse’.
The row began when 16 Cardiff academics wrote to Professor Riordan last June, arguing that it was ‘inappropriate’ for Stonewall to be ‘embedded’ within the institution and ‘influencing policies which affect freedom of expression’.
A counter letter, condemning the ‘transphobia’ of the signatories, was signed by more than 100 academics at Cardiff, and over 1,000 current and former students and others.
Days later, a protest took place outside the university, and leaflets featuring the names and photographs of the signatories were circulated. They featured the caption: ‘Not gay as in happy, but queer as in f*** you.’
In November, stickers appeared on campus depicting a raised gun, with the same caption as the leaflets. The open letter, launched on Friday, claims the original Cardiff signatories were cast as ‘transphobic’ by staff, students and external parties.
It alleges they have been subjected to ‘relentless harassment’ that has been ‘ignored by university administration’.
The document accuses the university of repeatedly failing ‘to undertake proper investigations’.
A Cardiff University spokesman yesterday disputed that these matters have not been ‘thoroughly investigated’. He said: ‘We have found insufficient evidence to link Cardiff University staff or students to any actions that would breach our internal disciplinary codes.’
The university has ‘remained in dialogue’ with staff over the last few months and will ‘continue to support staff and students on all sides while upholding our commitment to free speech’.
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