Fellows divided over don who breached last bastion
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Fellows at Cambridge University's only remaining all-women college yesterday spoke out in favour of Dr Rachel Padman, a trans-sexual woman don, staying at the college.
They felt strongly that Dr Padman, 43, a physicist specialising in star formation, who was appointed a fellow of Newnham College last autumn, should not be removed as a fellow or forced to resign because of her past - despite the fact that legally she is still a man.
Ruth Murrell-Laguado, a pharmacologist, said she had no problem with "someone who was born a man being allowed to be a fellow at Newnham". And she added: "My general feeling is that people who have gone through a sex change have faced a difficult enough decision to make that change and I am prepared to accept them as the sex they want to be."
Her views were backed by Honorary Fellow Professor Phyllis Deane, who said: "I am not a lawyer, so I don't know about the legal position. But I don't have a problem with it at all. If she arrived as a woman having had the appropriate sex change, I don't see why we should worry about it."
Meanwhile, the feminist academic, Germaine Greer, who is a member of the college's governing body, is horrified at the decision to admit Dr Padman as a Fellow of the college because the statutes insist that all fellows must be women. She is considering calling an emergency meeting of the governing body to discuss the controversy. Only Newnham's principal, Dr Onora O'Neil, knew that Dr Padman had undergone a sex-change operation to become a woman in 1982. Dr Greer and other fellows had had no idea of Dr Padman's history. "We have driven a coach and horses through our statutes and I can't believe we did it," she said. "It's disgraceful that Dr Padman has been placed in this situation. I makes me very angry."
Dr Padman, like Dr Greer born in Australia, is said to have considered resigning if "a significant number of women" at the college were unhappy with her position, but did not want to lose "something I love".
One way Newnham could solve the problem would be by voting to admit men as fellows - the move was rejected by a small majority in 1990 - but Dr Padman said she preferred to keep the college single-sex. "It is an exhilarating feeling being surrounded by clever and intelligent women," she said.
Clare Garner
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments