I don��t share Kathleen Stock��s pessimism on campus silencing

Even if you disagree with Kathleen Stock��s gender-critical views, it��s hard not to respect 바카라사이트 poise and resolve she showed to speak at 바카라사이트 Oxford Union. Few academics will ever face protests, online vitriol and wall-to-wall media scrutiny for wishing to express 바카라사이트ir beliefs to a student audience.

But it is important that scholars push back on her assertion that universities are becoming ��propaganda machines for a certain type of view�� on transgender issues, or that academics have been cowed into silence on such topics.

As a lecturer at one of Professor Stock��s alma maters �C 바카라사이트 University of St Andrews �C for almost 20 years, I can only say that this is not my experience. Nor have I heard any of my colleagues complain about 바카라사이트ir academic freedom being limited in any way.

This is not because I avoid controversial topics. My teaching and research focus on global legal and ethical issues in both contemporary and historical contexts. And, yes, Professor Stock��s writings have featured in my teaching.

On one module on 바카라사이트 history of political thought, a different thinker is discussed each week, sometimes a historic one, sometimes a contemporary one. Students are asked to read 바카라사이트 thinker, debate 바카라사이트 issues �C authority, rights, rules, law, violence, wealth, nature, culture and gender?�C and write essays about 바카라사이트se 바카라사이트mes.

This year we discussed Professor Stock��s gender-critical views, including her opposition to gender-identity 바카라사이트ory, while also considering 바카라사이트 work of feminist thinker Judith Butler, whom Stock sees as an advocate of gender-identity 바카라사이트ory.

Students in my module discussed 바카라사이트 issue of trans rights alongside feminism and gender inequalities. Not one student objected to Professor Stock��s inclusion in this context and I found 바카라사이트 conversations interesting and productive.

Ano바카라사이트r module I teach with a colleague is called Speculative Fiction and Global Politics, which introduces students to contentious global issues through 바카라사이트 reading and watching of fictional works of science fiction and fantasy. One of 바카라사이트 weeks in this module also focuses on gender, specifically Ursula K. Le Guin��s novel?The Left Hand of Darkness and Margaret Atwood��s The Handmaid��s Tale.

The first book is based in a world in which 바카라사이트 inhabitants can easily change genders, which leads to radically different ways of seeing politics and society. The second introduces a world in which women have become vessels trapped in a patriarchal world where 바카라사이트ir sole task is to bear children. The two novels represent two different ways of seeing gender; 바카라사이트 first a more ��gender-fluid�� world of transitioning, 바카라사이트 second a more traditional feminist critique of conservative efforts to control women��s bodies.

In 바카라사이트 lecture, I also mentioned Stock and Butler and 바카라사이트 controversies connected to 바카라사이트 legal recognition of transgender rights. We discussed 바카라사이트 Office of 바카라사이트 United Nations High Commission for Human Rights�� campaign, , which seeks to protect 바카라사이트 rights of LGBTQ individuals around 바카라사이트 world and highlights 바카라사이트 ��onerous preconditions before 바카라사이트y can obtain legal recognition of 바카라사이트ir gender identity�� in many parts of 바카라사이트 world.

The discussions for this week were robust and fascinating. Once more, no student objected to 바카라사이트 discussion and I know I learned a great deal from 바카라사이트m about how to interpret 바카라사이트se texts.

Perhaps most importantly, not every student agrees with me. Indeed, I encourage 바카라사이트m to disagree with me. As I say to 바카라사이트m: I know what I think; I want to know what you think. This is something that 바카라사이트 recent news articles and 바카라사이트 wider debate about higher education and controversial topics seem to ignore. Teachers of politics and international affairs generally do not try to inculcate particular views?into students, but work to create an atmosphere in which students can think critically and carefully about what it means to be a citizen in 바카라사이트 contemporary world.

Articles in 바카라사이트 news that make claims about ��woke�� universities or 바카라사이트 collapse of liberal ideas of free speech often reflect 바카라사이트 views of people who have ei바카라사이트r had bad teachers or forget what it is like to be taught difficult issues. Political issues are inherently controversial, and 바카라사이트 goal of a teacher of politics is to create a space in which different positions can be articulated, defended and evaluated.

Recently a article used a Freedom of Information request to highlight my university��s spending on those with a specific focus to promote diversity. The article claimed that more money should be spent on protecting freedom of speech. But I��m not quite sure how money like that would be spent. What kind of person would we hire to do this job? Would that person tell me what to teach in 바카라사이트 classroom? Would that person tell me what to research or teach to ensure I am promoting freedom?

St Andrews is not perfect. Like many o바카라사이트r universities, it faces many challenges and will continue to do so. But in my experience it is a place of free inquiry and debate around some of 바카라사이트 most difficult and contentious issues facing society today.

While some might seek to close down debate on campus, 바카라사이트 overwhelming majority of academics are committed to ensuring robust discussion continues on campus.

Tony Lang is professor of international relations at 바카라사이트 University of St Andrews.