University of Essex apologises to professor over trans-rights cancellation

The decision to cancel Prof Jo Phoenix's appearance was "unlawful", the report found

A university has apologised to a professor whose seminar was cancelled after protestors labelled her as a "transphobe".

Prof Jo Phoenix was due at the University of Essex in December 2019 to talk about "trans rights, imprisonment and the criminal justice system".

It was cancelled by the university, partly due to security concerns.

An investigation found the cancellation "amounted to a breach of Prof Phoenix's right to freedom of expression".

The review, commissioned by the Colchester-based university and carried out by a barrister, followed the cancellation of the seminar which was arranged by the university's Centre for Criminology.

The review stated: "On the day of the seminar, complaints were made that Prof Phoenix was a 'transphobe' who was likely to engage in 'hate speech'.

"There was a credible threat that students planned to barricade the room, and a flyer was circulating which bore a violent image and [an obscenity].

"There were reports that people felt unsafe and threatened by the prospect of her appearing on campus."

The University of Essex has apologised to Prof Jo Phoenix

The seminar "was cancelled due to security concerns, on the basis that it would be rearranged", but it was later decided to not invite Prof Phoenix back.

The report found: "The cancellation amounted to a breach of Prof Phoenix's right to freedom of expression and the associated legal duties to which the university was subject.

"Moreover the violent flyer was wholly unacceptable and should have been the subject of a timely disciplinary investigation."

'Important counter-balance'

Issuing an apology, the university's vice-chancellor, Prof Anthony Forster, said "we have made serious mistakes and we need to do our very best to learn from these and to ensure they are not repeated".

Open University academic Prof Phoenix said on Twitter: "I welcome that apology and welcome the approach taken - even if it took 18 months to complete."

"Its [the review's] findings and recommendations are an important counterbalance to the attacks on gender-critical views and gender-critical research."

With regards to being described as a "transphobe", Prof Phoenix told the BBC: "It is simply ludicrous to say that someone is transphobic because they wish to question and understand the implementation of policies of self ID in a prison context."

Also receiving an apology in the same review was Prof Rosa Freedman of Reading University, for events surrounding a Holocaust Memorial Week event in January 2020.

Prof Freedman was told in December 2019 she would be invited to appear, but this decision was reversed and the report found it "was made because of her views on gender identity", before the invitation was later "reinstated".

"If the invitation had not been reinstated she would have been subjected to an interference with her right to freedom of expression," the review said.

"This would have been particularly egregious given that the topic on which she was due to speak was entirely unconnected to the question of gender identity and was a matter of academic expertise."

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