Mick Hartley

The Education For Women’s Liberation conference at UCL yesterday featured some 900 academics, students and writers discussing: women’s voices in education; sexual harassment in schools and universities; the history of women’s access to education in local and global contexts; the ways in which women’s entrance into education and research has changed workplaces and academic disciplines; the impact of gendered stereotypes in educational spaces, and sex and relationship education in schools.

Well, this would never do. Feminists getting together to discuss women and education? In this day and age?

University academics have compared a feminist conference promoting women’s rights on campus to “enabling eugenics”.

Police were called to University College London (UCL) on Saturday as about two dozen transgender rights activists banged on windows and allegedly assaulted a woman while the Education For Women’s Liberation conference was held.

About 900 people, including academics, students and writers, gathered on the leading Russell Group campus to discuss how scholarly research can “bring feminism back into the lecture theatres”.

However, as it began at 9am, two lecturers who co-direct qUCL, a staff and student research group on gender studies and queer theory, released a statement comparing the conference to eugenics.

Dr Simon Lock, a UCL associate professor of science communication, and Dr Xine Yao, a lecturer in American literature, wrote: “We are deeply concerned that inviting speakers and organisations who are well known to promote anti-trans and anti-queer views onto our campus invalidates the hard work UCL has undertaken over the last several years to address issues of EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion], including the legacy of eugenics and debates about anti-Semitism.”

Because…no trans. Therefore…eugenics. Surprisingly no mention of genocide, normally de rigueur in these situations – though eugenics plus "debates about anti-Semitism" does hint nicely at the Holocaust.

The violence and intimidation was, of course, all one-way.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed it was called just after 3.40pm to “disorder associated with a demo” and there was “an allegation that someone tried to grab something”.

Katy Worley, the founder of the Make More Noise feminist group, told The Telegraph she was filming about 25 trans activist protesters chanting outside the UCL’s Institute of Education, when “a hooded gentleman came up to me, said ‘Stop filming me!’ and then grabbed my phone, wrestled it out of my hand and threw it over a wall”.

She added: “He pulled both of my thumbs back, which are now bruised and hurt. I held onto his rucksack and shouted for security saying ‘Help! Help! Help! I’m being assaulted!’ He tussled with me and ran down the street and disappeared.”

Police officers attended and she reported an assault and theft.

Trans rights activists chanted: “When trans rights are under attack, we fight back!” In videos on social media, one attendee, Sarah Jane Baker, a transgender convict who served 30 years behind bars for kidnapping and attempted murder, shouted at attendees telling them they are “c—s”.

Nice people.

Another trans rights activist, visibly angry, shouted at Prof Phoenix and other attendees to wild cheers via a megaphone: “You try to deny our existence! Literally f— you! This is our university! This is our space! You are not welcome here and we will make sure that you will never, ever be here again!”

Raquel Rosario Sanchez, a women’s rights campaigner who also spoke on a panel, said that the activists “circled the building from outside” and “were shouting and stomping outside our window so we had to change rooms”.

Judith Green, the director of Woman’s Place UK which organised the conference with the UCL Women’s Liberation group, said: “While initially peaceful, this [protest] did become intimidating with protestors banging on windows, clearly designed to, and did, cause distress to women attendees.”