Oxford students protest visit from Aberdeen-born professor

Kathleen Stock has spoken about her views of gender and trans issues which have led to criticism from university students.

By Ross Hempseed

May 18 2023, 9:09 am

Oxford University. Image: Shutterstock / FenlioQ

Oxford University students have stepped up their campaign to stop a talk by a visiting professor – despite being warned they are threatening free speech.

Hundreds of trans activists will protest against a debate at the Oxford Union featuring feminist professor of philosophy Kathleen Stock.

They claim the Aberdeen-born professor is “transphobic and trans-exclusionary” for opposing gender self-identification and saying biological sex is real, and are planning a day of talks and a protest march for the day of her visit on May 30.

But the Oxford University LGBTQ+ Society has been warned by 44 university dons against threatening free speech.

Protests began after the society called on Oxford Union, the university’s debating society, to rescind their invitation to Prof Stock.

The incident has also prompted the Student Union to sever ties with the Oxford Union and stop them from having a recruiting stall at future freshers’ fairs – a decision condemned by the 44 dons.

Professor Kathleen Stock, who has been criticised for her controversial views by members of Oxford University's LGBTQI+ Society. — Kathleen Stock, from Aberdeen, has been criticised for her controversial views by members of Oxford’s LGBTQI+ Society. Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock.

‘I don’t think that it’s fair to debate the existence of trans people’

They argue “universities must remain places where contentious views can be openly discussed.”

Amiad Haran Diman, president of the university’s LGBTQ+ Society, told Radio 4’s World At One: “The youngest cohorts at uni are increasingly not cisgender and are super accepting.

“The Oxford Union is a private members’ club and it has no duty to platform these views when Kathleen Stock is not an expert on gender identity.

“I don’t think that it’s fair to debate the existence of trans people. And I don’t think it’s fair to debate basic human rights.”

A letter from the dons to The Daily Telegraph read: “Prof Stock believes that biological sex in humans is real and socially salient, a view which until recently would have been so commonplace as to hardly merit asserting.

“Whether or not one agrees with Prof Stock’s views, there is no plausible and attractive ideal of academic freedom, or of free speech more generally, which would condemn their expression as outside the bounds of permissible discourse.”

Prof Stock was forced to resign from her position at Sussex University in 2021 following harassment from gender activists.