Students angered by University’s ‘draft’ plans to ban transgender people from using preferred toilets

Confusion has arisen over Warwick’s transgender policies after the University said that they remain “under review” despite a ‘draft’ document appearing to confirm changes earlier this week.  

The Trans Inclusion Code of Practice was momentarily updated on Monday (12 May), before the document was removed from the University’s website altogether less than a day later.

The updated document appeared to confirm that transgender students and staff at the University would no longer be allowed to use facilities – including toilets and changing rooms – of the gender with which they identify.

Instead, they would have to use facilities that are “identified as those for the trans person’s sex assigned at birth”, or gender-neutral facilities.

Under proposed guidance seen by Warwick Trans* Soc, people would also be asked to ‘confront’ or ‘report’ people who they believed were using the ‘wrong’ facilities, a move that the society has called both “grossly inhumane” and “possibly unlawful under both the Equality Act 2010 and Human Rights Act 1998”.

Transgender people at Warwick can currently use facilities according to the gender they identify as, with the original code stating that ‘a trans person should not be required to use facilities of their former assigned gender’

The news comes a month after the Supreme Court ruled that a ‘woman’, under the Equality Act 2010, is legally defined as a “biological woman”, based on an individual’s sex at birth, rather than the gender they identify with, even if they have a Gender Recognition Certificate.

Transgender people at Warwick can currently use facilities according to the gender they identify as, with the original code stating that “a trans person should not be required to use facilities of their former assigned gender”.

The University has confirmed to PinkNews that a draft version of the document had been uploaded to their website in “error”, adding that they apologised for the “pain and upset” caused by the confusion.

The University’s website now states that the code of practice remains “under review”. However, the University would not confirm to The Boar whether the apparent policy changes would be implemented at any point in the future.

According to a report by Times Higher Education, the policy was set to be officially adopted by the University on Friday (16 May) following a meeting of the executive board. Complaints from staff, however, led the University to reverse that decision and instead remove the policy altogether.

[The policy is] among other things, hateful, possibly unlawful, and certainly feeding into the genocidal rhetoric against trans people

Warwick Trans* Soc statement

Despite this, the news has been met with widespread anger and disappointment from students at Warwick, many of whom have expressed concern that it could leave trans and non-binary students feeling unsafe.

Warwick Trans* Soc, a society for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students at Warwick, described the updated Code of Conduct as “among other things, hateful, possibly unlawful, and certainly feeding into the genocidal rhetoric against trans people.”

In an eight-page statement, they added that any changes to the University’s toilet policy “undoubtably puts trans people in a situation where they are only able to safely use the gender-neutral facilities, which are sparse on campus”.

While all single-occupancy toilets on campus have now been changed to gender-neutral toilets, some buildings including the Students’ Union (SU) and the Rootes Building still only offer single-sex facilities.

Trans* Soc also criticised the removal of clauses which required staff and students at the University to follow the code of conduct.

As outlined in the erroneously uploaded draft, only ‘People Managers’ – such as supervisors or leaders – would now be required to “be familiar with” and promote the code.

The University’s decision to propose these changes, in direct contradiction to sector advice, has underlined the institutional transphobia that trans staff and students face on a daily basis

Warwick Pride statement

Warwick Pride also criticised the University for their handling of the situation, saying that they “consider the University’s ‘draft’ Trans Inclusion Policy to be beneath contempt”. They added that the University’s decision to “desperately backpeddle” and withdraw the new guidance shows that “the University underestimated the solidarity that would be shown by students and staff in support of trans students”.

“The consequences of the University’s blatant transphobia have been laid bare – it is too little, too late,” the group continued, criticising that, “the University’s decision to propose these changes, in direct contradiction to sector advice, has underlined the institutional transphobia that trans staff and students face on a daily basis.”

“It is shameful that a supposedly ‘world-leading progressive institution’ is instead encouraging the normalisation of transphobic rhetoric.”

Calling on the SU, who this week published a statement on the Supreme Court ruling, to provide further support to trans students, Dorian Valentine, one of the SU’s Trans Students’ Officers, also said: “It’s incredibly damning for the University to have published this document, in error or not, having not expected any backlash.”

“To be so clearly out of touch and to lack even a simple understanding of the harm that this policy would cause to a portion of the University’s population shows a clear lack of care and consultation on incredibly important social matters.”

“I only hope that the SU and other relevant lobbying bodies put their relationship and support for trans students before their relationship with the University.”

Students and staff who have been affected by these proposals can seek support and guidance from Trans* Soc, who have provided a Linktree with resources

Criticism has not been limited to coming from students, however. Some staff at the University have also criticised the move, with one member of Warwick’s University and College Union branch describing it as a “knee-jerk reaction” to the fine issued to the University of Sussex by the Office for Students for “muzzling” the views of Professor Kathleen Stock.

The staff member told Times Higher Education: “If they turned around and said, ‘we’re going to have separate bathrooms for people of a different race’, that would be absolutely not acceptable. But because, somehow, being anti-trans is socially acceptable, they just think they can get away with this.”

Students and staff who have been affected by these proposals can seek support and guidance from Trans* Soc, who have provided a Linktree with resources. Other services like TransActual, TransUnite, Coventry Trans Pride, and Mermaids can also help to support those in the transgender community who have been affected.