Academic given extra security at lectures after trans activists’ threats
‘Two burly guys’ assigned to protect professor after students warned her that she could be in danger
AN OXFORD University professor has been given security guards to accompany her to lectures after receiving threats from transgender activists.
Prof Selina Todd, a historian who specialises in the lives of women and the working class, said that she had now been provided with “routine security” to ensure she was not attacked.
The academic – who has been accused of being a “transphobe” for her involvement in women’s rights advocacy – was told by her students that she was potentially in danger.
“Two students came to see me and said they were very worried that threats had been made to me on email networks they were part of,” Prof Todd told The Daily Telegraph.
“The university investigated the threats and came back to me to say their intelligence on them is such that they are providing me security for all of my lectures for the rest of this year. They said, ‘You’re having two men in the rest of your lectures.’”
At her most recent undergraduate lecture, a few students arrived in trans activists T-shirts, but the presence of “two big burly guys” was likely to have put them off any protests, she added.
She said that activists started making complaints because her teaching of feminist history was “transphobic”.
“My research suggests that women who posed as men in the past were often lesbians seeking to protect themselves, or because they want to do jobs that were only available to men. The first complaint that was made against me was to say I was transphobic because it would be impossible for a transgender student to be taught by me.”
Prof Todd said that the history faculty received “daily” complaints from activists calling for her to be sacked.
“I get frightened by the threats in lectures,” she said. “You can’t help but worry. It’s had a huge impact on me. You don’t expect to be defending yourself the whole time from complaints or threats of violence.”
She said the history faculty had been hugely supportive, including referring her for counselling, but urged the university to take a stronger stance against those making malicious complaints.
“It would be far more helpful if the university could take robust action against the people making these threats in the first place,” she said.
Earlier this week, Merton College, Oxford, was criticised over plans for a debate on transgender issues that required attendees to sign a code of conduct stating they must not express views “intended to undermine the validity of trans identities”.
Following an outcry, it was removed from the event page and replaced with a statement in support of free speech.
‘It’s had a huge impact. You don’t expect to be defending yourself all the time from threats of violence’