A London university has been warned against one of its employment policies that could breach the law.
King’s College London (KCL) has asked academics who are applying to be professors or readers to provide evidence they “create an inclusive environment where colleagues are valued and able to succeed”.
The university details attributes which may contribute to fostering any kind of “inclusive environment”, including “educating yourself about issues of equality, diversity and inclusion and how exclusion occurs”.
But for staff looking for promotions, it could leave them out in the cold, with Dr John Armstrong – who works at KCL – claiming his disagreements with “ideas about sex and gender” would “count against him”.
Sex Matters, a “human-rights charity” which campaigns on trans issues, said its analysis suggested the policy was “unlawful in several respects”, and brought in a barrister, Akua Reindorf KC, to provide a legal opinion.
The organisation said Reindorf “concluded that the policy was likely to constitute unlawful discrimination on grounds of gender-critical belief, and that it would also be likely to contravene the new law on academic freedom due to come into force in August”.
The legal professional added that she believed it was “strongly arguable that KCL’s approach to EDI [Equality, Diversity and Inclusion] in respect of sex and gender conflicts with and/or actively contradicts the law in certain key respects, and that it is partisan and “ideological in nature”.
The barrister added that the requirements placed people with “gender-critical beliefs” at a “particular disadvantage” during applications.
Sex Matters has since called on the university to “commit to an immediate and full review of its hiring and promotion criteria [and] its EDI policies”, as well as to “ending unlawful discrimination against staff with gender-critical views”.
In response to the calls, a KCL spokesman said: “We’re proud of the work we’ve done to build an inclusive atmosphere on campus in collaboration with our staff networks and EDI experts.
“Academic staff applying for promotion choose how they provide evidence to support their individual applications against a range of specific criteria, in line with employment and higher education regulations.
“We regularly review all university policies to ensure compliance with changing laws.”
