Jo Phoenix: ‘every single v-c should read this judgment’

A gender-critical professor who won an employment tribunal because her university failed to protect her from harassment has called on UK vice-chancellors to read the judgment as she fears there will still be similar cases unless institutions “stand up to their responsibilities”.

Speaking to Times Higher Education, Jo Phoenix said she felt her case against the Open University had “established the parameters within which debate can take place”, which “cuts to the heart of university culture” as well as showing that institutions have to step in when staff are being harassed.

Professor Phoenix was ruled to have faced a “hostile environment” at the OU and discrimination and harassment from colleagues because of her belief that people cannot change their biological sex. She left her post as professor of criminology in December 2021 to join the University of Reading.

“From my perspective, the big headline is that academics, students and people in universities cannot go round calling people who are gender critical or come from that perspective transphobes and terfs [trans-exclusionary radical feminists] without it being both an insult but also opening the possibility of it being an act of harassment to do so,” said Professor Phoenix.

“The judgment was very, very clear that those kinds of statements are used as an insult and to create a hostile working environment – ie, to stop people talking.”

She said there were several points when the OU could have acted differently, including insisting that a conference that was cancelled due to the participation of speakers labelled “transphobic” should go ahead and warning staff that raising complaints about people because of their views was unacceptable.

“Every single v-c needs to read the judgment,” said Professor Phoenix. “There are some real lessons that jump out about taking things seriously, dealing with them quickly, understanding that words are not a case of sticks and stones.

“Words like ‘transphobe’ are in the same realm as ‘racist’, ‘homophobe’ and ‘sexist’ – all people and ideas that are beyond the pale – and they have an effect; they destroy careers.”

Professor Phoenix said she “lives in hope” that her case will change the culture at universities but said she was aware of “many people across the sector facing vexatious complaints of transphobia” and many others who “dare not put their head above the parapet and enter into these discussions because they are so afraid”.

But she feared many will see the judgment as “simply advisory” and, “while some universities may decide to stand up to their responsibilities, some might not, and I fear there will be another case like this”.

“Realistically I hope things will change but I do worry it will take a long time and there is still going to be a lot of blood on the carpet,” she added.

Witnesses at the tribunal had claimed that their own social media posts and statements were protected by academic freedom but, on several occasions, the ruling found this was not the case.

In one instance, the judge ruled there was “nothing scholastic” about an open letter signed by more than 300 academics that called for the OU to withdraw its public support for the Gender Critical Research Network that Professor Phoenix co-founded. Another statement that implied this network was “putting human lives at stake” was said to be “somewhat hyperbolic”.

The ruling said “a certain basic level of rigour in presenting the evidence” was expected given most of the witnesses were academics, but some “did not meet this standard”.

Professor Phoenix said she felt the ruling had shown that academics cannot publish “unevidenced statements”. “You can’t just say ‘they are a poo-face so their ideas are rubbish’. We don’t recognise that as a standard in universities and we wouldn’t publish articles like that in journals.”

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com