EDUCATION
Oxford scholars back Kathleen Stock’s right to speak
Student union plans protest at gender-critical professor’s appearance at debating society
Kathleen Stock spoke at the Cambridge Union last year and won the debate on free speech
FLORENCE TAWNS/CAMBRIDGE UNION
Academics have urged Oxford University to enter the fray and “read the riot act” to students trying to stifle freedom of speech amid a growing row over transphobia.
The university is bracing itself for up to 1,000 protesters and counter-protesters when Professor Kathleen Stock, the philosopher and writer who is known for having gender-critical views, speaks at the Oxford Union debating society at the end of the month.
Undergraduates are trying to get the university to cancel Stock’s talk, accusing her of being transphobic, and its student union has also voted to sever ties with the debating society.
Professor Lawrence Goldman, 66, who taught at Oxford for 29 years, was one of 40 dons who signed a letter backing Stock. He told The Times: “Why
