Most trans students at Oxford have dealt with discrimination – how exactly will continuing to host transphobic speakers curb that?

For trans and gender non-conforming people at the university, exclusion and erasure are sewn into the fabric of our emotional and social lives

Many trans people at Oxford believe it continues to hide behind the sacrosanctity of free speech, rather than challenging transphobia (iStock)

At Oxford University, 98 per cent of transgender students have experienced a mental health issue. 80 per cent have suffered from anxiety, 75 per cent from depression, 49 per cent have self-harmed and 45 per cent have had suicidal thoughts. Nearly two-thirds of trans students have been subject to transphobia or discrimination. Put simply, Oxford is failing trans students.

As a PhD student and one of the few openly trans members of academic staff at Oxford, I am all too aware of the obstacles to stability and success that trans and gender non-conforming people face. My work with the Oxford Student Union LGBTQ+ Campaign has only served to strengthen my conviction that the university is not doing enough to support trans students.

The more I engage with members of the trans community, the more I uncover the scale of the problem. Like many members of this community, I have had to support others when the university has not done enough. I have acted as a friend and as a counsellor. I have talked somebody out of suicide.

The above figures on mental health come from the LGBTQ+ Campaign’s recent report into trans experience at Oxford. Our findings indicate what many trans people have long suspected: that there is a mental health crisis in the trans community at the university.

This crisis is at least in part attributable to the university itself; nearly two-thirds of students surveyed said that study here has had a negative impact on their mental health.

Students are often caught in a destructive cycle where the pressure to succeed creates or exacerbates mental health issues, which in turn act as a barrier to academic success. Added to this, gender identity can be a powerful catalyst. Balancing academic stress, mental health issues and the emotional strain of negotiating the world as a trans or gender non-conforming person can be a toxic and unforgiving mix.

Our report also pointed to a strong correlation between experiences of discrimination and poor mental health. Students surveyed who had experienced transphobia or discrimination at the university were nearly 50 per cent more likely to experience anxiety and depression, and were twice as likely to self-harm than those who had not.

Oxford has made a public commitment to trans inclusivity with its transgender policy. It has pledged to foster an “inclusive, trans-friendly culture” where trans people are “free from discrimination, harassment or victimisation”. It has categorically stated that harassment can be grounds for disciplinary action. In line with its own harassment policy, then, Oxford has promised to eradicate behaviours that violate trans people’s dignity, or create an “intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment” for us.

And yet Oxford remains an institution that is far from trans-inclusive. I have lost count of the number of libraries and buildings I can’t use because they still do not have a single gender-neutral bathroom. I am regularly misgendered and called by the wrong name, because the gender marker on my student record is the one I was assigned at birth, and not the one I know myself to be.

My experience is by no means unique. For trans and gender non-conforming people at Oxford University, exclusion and erasure are sewn into the fabric of our emotional and social lives.

In spite of its public commitments, Oxford has failed to protect trans people from harassment and discrimination. Its refusal to act when transphobic speakers are invited to talk in its colleges and faculties is damning. Indeed, its willingness to condone the invitation of people who deny the existence of trans people entirely undermines its commitment to trans inclusivity.

The language we use is shaped by, and shapes, the world we live in. When we give space to transphobic hate speech in our higher education institutions, we normalise violence against trans people.

If the university’s silence on the issue of guest speakers is unacceptable, its failure to act when academics within its own institutions endorse transphobic hate speech is indefensible. In recent times, several academics have publicly disputed the validity of trans identities, in particular those of trans women and transfeminine people. At the time of writing, none have been reprimanded by the university.

Trans identities are not a subject of debate, academic or otherwise. That members of academic staff can question our existence without reprisal is an indictment of the university’s commitment to trans inclusivity. The positions they occupy within colleges and faculties grant them intellectual authority, and very real power, over students. Their continued presence disenfranchises trans and gender non-conforming people, and fosters a climate of ignorance and hostility towards them.

This is all the more galling given the numbers of students and staff who work tirelessly to improve the lives of trans people at Oxford. We are seeing piecemeal changes. Since the release of the report, some colleges and departments have pledged to better train welfare staff, and to install gender-neutral facilities.

All too often, their hard work is undermined by Oxford’s failure to support trans students. It continues to hide behind the sacrosanctity of free speech, rather than challenging transphobia. It has yet to respond to our findings, or to make any kind of meaningful commitment to change. At a time when trans people are facing increasing levels of violence, Oxford must take definitive action to make trans students a priority, and not an afterthought.

Aaron Hughes is a lecturer in French at the University of Oxford’s Balliol College