A group advocating for academic freedom has said that Irish Universities’ adherence to Athena Swan principles which include a pledge to promote “gender ideology” is a threat to academic freedom.
Academics for Academic Freedom, which has just launched a Dublin branch, says that adherence to the dictates of the Athena Swan (AS) program are “politically and philosophically partisan”.
Irish Universities are currently required to sign up to the principles in order to benefit from state research funding which is overseen by the Higher Education Authority.
Commenting on the commitment to ‘embrace’ and ‘foster’ certain belief systems UCD lectured, Dr. Tim Crowley, said institutions which have signed up to AS have “committed, or has been committed, to embracing and promoting gender ideology,”.
Despite this he said that the Universities Act states that academics have the freedom to question and to put forward new ideas and discuss controversial or unpopular opinions, without fear of suffering any disadvantage.
Commenting on a “startling amount of ignorance regarding academic freedom among Irish academics,” Crowly said that there had been a noticeable absence of pushback against these mandatory principles saying that AS has “boasted” about the influence adherence to its principles has regarding the awarding of research grants.
The Athena Swan charter of principals which participating institutions must sign their commitment to enforcing says:
“I confirm that [name of institution / department / professional unit] is committed to working towards the achievement of the Athena Swan Ireland charter’s aims and I confirm our acceptance of the principles of the charter.”
Outlining a “shared goal” of “addressing systemic inequalities and embedding inclusive cultures in higher education” it says that “equality, diversity and inclusion strengthens higher education communities—the quality, relevance and impact of teaching and research, and the talent pool of potential staff and students.”
It further states that assignees must work towards “embedding equality, diversity, and inclusion in our culture, decision-making and partnerships, and holding ourselves and others in our institution/department/professional unit accountable.”
Addressing the suggestion that ‘Institutions, rather than individuals, sign up to these principles’, Crowly said, “To say it is an institutional demand and not one placed upon individuals is simply not true,”
He continued that, “the demand is that heads of schools, or colleges (or whoever is the point person for AS) pledge commitment ‘on behalf of the school/unit etc’—in other words, on behalf of the members of the school.”
He questioned whether an institution like UCD which has adopted AS principles could reasonable do so “without committing the faculty as individuals to these principles,” adding that the only logical answer was “Of course not.”
Crowley said the AS plans “obviously” affect individual faculty as they “nearly always involve mandatory training” which he says is typically on ‘unconscious bias’.
Calling a response from the Higher Education Authority which stated that universities can “determine their own action plans to tackle inequalities” and as such as not mandated to follow Athena Swan principles to the letter “very disingenuous”, he said that the individual institution (and each department in the institution) “has to develop an application for an Athena swan badge that is in line with the Athena swan application template and this involves a pledge to develop an ‘action plan’ to achieve the commitments of the template.”
“And then, crucially, it must send this application to Athena swan Ireland. It has to be strong enough to win an Athena swan badge, and thus be eligible for funding. Athena swan Ireland decides upon the success of the application, not the university, and not the HEA either.” he said.
Last year Gript’s Dr. Matt Treacy wrote that “Advance HE now boasts that Athena SWAN having extended from the UK to Ireland in 2015 was a breakthrough that has allowed it to be accepted in 160 institutions around the world, although its claim to set “internationally recognised” standards is somewhat limited by the fact that Australia and the United Arab Emirates appear to be among the only others who have let them shape policy.”
“That rather undermines the claim by Heather Humphries in 2018 that Athena SWAN is the “international quality mark for gender equality,” or that of then CEO of the HEA, Graham Love at the Public Accounts Committee in 2017 that an Athena SWAN award is similar to an International Standards Office (ISO) accreditation for “an institution’s gender policy.”.” he wrote.