Oxford college threatens to expel students who misgender trans peers
Students at the University of Oxford could be expelled for misgendering their peers under a college’s new transgender harassment policy.
Regent’s Park College – once called home by the goddaughter of the late Diana, Princess of Wales – has launched a campaign against transphobia with a “trans inclusion statement”.
The new policy says that “unlawful discriminatory behaviour, including transphobic harassment or bullying … will be regarded extremely seriously and could be grounds for disciplinary action”.
The statement lists examples of harassment, including “consistently using incorrect titles, pronouns or names to refer to a trans person (‘deadnaming’) especially where this causes distress”.
The college’s students are also banned from “unduly intrusive or personal questioning”, “making jokes about trans people or their trans status” and “denying or disputing the validity and/or existence of a trans person’s identity”.
Students found to have broken the policy may face “expulsion or dismissal”, the statement continued.
Gender identity ‘a protected characteristic’
Regent’s Park College is thought to be the first college to recognise gender identity as a protected characteristic by implementing a specific policy about it.
The college said it believes “gender reassignment” is not an “exclusively medical” term and also has “personal” dimensions.
Its statement said: “Individuals perceived as having the protected characteristic of gender reassignment (even incorrectly) are still afforded its protections.”
The news came days after a heated debate, at the Oxford Union, about transgender rights prompted by the appearance of Prof Kathleen Stock, who has gender-critical views.
The talk was disrupted for about 10 minutes after Riz Possnett, a student activist, glued their hand to the floor and was escorted out of the society’s debating chamber by police.
Prof Stock left her job at the University of Sussex two years ago after she was criticised for questioning the view that gender identity is more significant than biological sex.
The protester was later “de-arrested” and Thames Valley Police said “the event organisers did not support prosecution”.
Prof Stock said that the protest was “a bit Blue Peter” and argued that protesters “were not representative” of the wider student body.
Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, withdrew from a debate at the Oxford Union on Thursday night over its decision to host the academic earlier in the week.
Regent’s Park is a small Oxford college run by Prof Sir Malcolm Evans, a legal scholar who served on the panel of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.