Charity ‘feared funding cut' over links with gender-critical academic

Times

7 hours ago

​A Scottish academic has claimed she was compelled to step down from a charity over fears that Scottish government funding would be cut due to its association with her.
Professor Sarah Pedersen​, dean of the graduate school at Robert Gordon University​, said the charity's Edinburgh head office ​told her it was ​a​nxious that funding would be pulled because of her gender-critical views. She declined to identify the charity.
​A​fter ​a​ppearing at​ an Edinburgh University​ event on trans rights, Pedersen said she endured non-platforming and aggression from students who allegedly compiled a 'dossier' of 'evil things' she was alleged to have done, including retweeting a social media post from Johann Lamont, the gender-critical former Scottish Labour leader.
The ​l​ecturer has now called for John Swinney, the first minister, to show immediate leadership on the issue of sex and gender in Scotland.
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Pedersen is one of a handful of UK academics who put their name to a UK government-commissioned report by Professor Alice Sullivan, a companion piece of research to a report earlier this year that found health boards, rape crisis services and police in Scotland had failed to record accurate data on sex and gender.
They gave evidence that those who have challenged the theory that sex is always less important than gender identity have been bullied, harassed and blocked from career progression.
The report, 'Barriers to research on sex and gender', features personal accounts from UK academics, including those from the University of Edinburgh and Robert Gordon University.
In what is described as the most extensive research of its kind conducted in the UK, Sullivan has collected and analysed evidence on the impact of a 'hostile culture' that has developed in university campuses over the past decade.
Pedersen said she was taken aback by the number of research participants who wished to remain anonymous, demonstrating the 'chilling effect' of discrimination against gender critical academics.
Pedersen thought 'long and hard' about whether or not to go on the record​ but said she was supported by Robert Gordon University, which had encouraged 'academic freedom throughout'.
The report contains other accounts of the personal and professional impact of universities tolerating and encouraging the behaviour of a small minority of staff.
Campaigns were often co-ordinated through LGBT+ networks, which were embedded in management EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion) structures, it found.
One of the most difficult experiences involved Pedersen being invited to step down from the charity she chaired.
The organisation's umbrella body in Edinburgh said that Scottish government funding might be pulled due to the charity's association with her.
'I'm not sure how credible a concern that was in reality but I think the fact that it was the head office in Edinburgh that told our committee this made it credible,' she said.
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'It certainly made me feel that I could not continue in my role, because if we didn't get funding, and if the charity had to close or reduce its services, then I would feel tremendously guilty.'
Sullivan has made 20 recommendations to the government and academic institutions to defend high-quality research and protect individual academics from professional and personal attack.
One of the routes to improvement, Pedersen believes, would be a sense of leadership on the issue from the Scottish government. 'Keir Starmer came out firmly with a position a couple of days ago, but we've not had that lead from John Swinney,' she said.
'And I think that until that happens, things will continue to stall.'
The Scottish government has been contacted for comment.