Who we are
Steering Group Members 2022-2023
Dr Arianna Andreangeli, Senior Lecturer in European Law, Edinburgh Law School
Dr Shereen Benjamin, Senior Lecturer in Primary Education, Moray House School of Education and Sport
Mr Matthew Brown, Student, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences
Professor Jonathan Hearn, Professor of Political and Historical Sociology, School of Social and Political Science
Dr Gale Macleod, Senior Lecturer in Education, Moray House School of Education and Sport
Dr Michael Rosie, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, School of Social and Political Science
Dr Kitty Wheater, Mindfulness Chaplain, Chaplaincy
Edinburgh Academics for Academic Freedom launched in March 2022 with the following founder members (listed alphabetically):
Dr Arianna Andreangeli, Senior Lecturer in European Law, Edinburgh Law School
Dr Shereen Benjamin, Senior Lecturer in Primary Education, Moray House School of Education and Sport
Professor Jonathan Hearn, Professor of Political and Historical Sociology, School of Social and Political Science
Dr Gale Macleod, Senior Lecturer in Education, Moray House School of Education and Sport
Dr Kath Murray, Research Fellow in Criminology, Edinburgh Law School
Professor Lindsay Paterson, Professor of Education Policy, School of Social and Political Science
Dr Michael Rosie, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, School of Social and Political Science
Dr Neil Thin, Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology, School of Social and Political Science
If you would like to join us, you can email us at: Edinburgh.afaf@ed.ac.uk
We understand that for some people, being openly associated with a network promoting academic freedom carries personal and/or professional risk. When you contact us, we will not release or publish your name or any contact details without your express permission, and there will be no pressure on anyone to make their membership known.
Lovely to see this initiative! Good luck. Universities need to remember our legal obligations as well as original purposes.
The legal obligation to avoid discrimination and harassment related to gender reassignment, you mean? Or the one saying some bigoted beliefs are not unworthy of protection in a democratic society?🤔
Academic freedom includes being able to challenge bigotry from academics without fear of reprisal.
Of course, academic feedom must include the ability to challenge *any* belief without fear of reprisal. For example, academics as well as students should be able to challenge the recent narratives surrounding gender reassignment without it being automatically labelled as discrimination and harassment.
Great initiative. Timely too. Academic freedom is essential to a healthy university – and a legal obligation.
Makes me feel I need to get this going at Abertay. Good luck, and if I can help in any way, let me know.
We need this in Kent!
Excellent initiaive!
A university that has placed its highest premium on the protection of feelings or safe intellectual space has abandoned its core mission. The protection of feelings or the creation of safe space rightly might be the foremost goal in some settings, like at a family dinner, but it is not right for a university. A university that turns itself into an asylum from controversy has ceased to be a university; it has just become an asylum. (11th Circuit Court of Appeals in the US)
How are equal rights for trans individuals “feelings”? Will you be behind the next film that discusses eradicating rights for muslims and jewish people? For immigrants? For the those with disabilities?
No-one is advocating eliminating rights for trans people. The issue is that if anyone is allowed to self-identify as a woman, this raises problems for the protection of women-specific rights. It is a complex issue that requires open dialogue and discussion.
You absolutely are targeting a group of people who have existed for hundreds of years. Why? Why now? Your conversations are dismissive and parental. And your ideas will be challenged.
I am glad to see a group which is willing to stand with those of us who believe women should be subservient to men. I believe it is allowing women into University which has caused so many of our modern problems, and allowing them to concentrate on being mothers to their children is the best way forward. I hope you will hold events on this topic in the future.
Thank you, Charlotte you are correct. Let’s not stop there. What about the eradication of cats? They cause so much trouble and basically represent modern-day demons.