1. Summary
Of the 41 Vice Chancellors/Presidents of leading universities in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia we emailed in 24-28 Jun 2024 requesting them to state their position as an academic institution on whether or not it is possible to change sex
26 universities could not state whether or not human sex is binary and immutable
15 universities, based on their Transgender policies, supported the belief that it is possible to change sex, but could not provide a position to that effect and with the scientific evidence to support it.
A position that sex is binary and immutable would have given confidence to the public, academics and politicians to push back against the widespread TWAW1 indoctrination without being persecuted for stating that a 'trans' woman is not a woman (an adult female human), but a man. It would not be 'transphobic' or discriminatory to state that biological truth.
We continue to be subject to TWAW gaslighting.
‘Transgenderism’ can be defined as men transgressing women’s boundaries. At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris two men, not ‘trans’, claiming to be women won gold medals.
On 16th Apr’25 the UK Supreme Court, in the case For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers2 ruled that the term “woman” in the Equality Act 2010 means a biological woman and that trans women (even with a Gender Recognition Certificate) are not women but are protected from discrimination under the Protected Characteristic of Gender Reassignment. The decision is being contested: a group of feminist academics have written an open letter condemning the Supreme Court judgement, and the EHRC's interim guidance3. One thinks of turkeys campaigning for additional days to Christmas and Thanksgiving to be roasted and served.
We are in the middle of an employment tribunal in Dundee, Scotland, where a nurse, Sandie Peggie, of 30 years’ experience is taking legal action against NHS Fife, a Scottish health board after she was suspended for objecting to sharing a changing room with a 28-year-old, 6’ ‘transgender’ woman, Dr ‘Beth’ Upton4, who is legally a male as he does not have a GRC (Gender Recognition Certificate). During cross examination under oath Dr Upton claimed that he is biologically female and that “there is no agreed definition of biological sex. It’s a nebulous dog whistle.”5
41 leading international universities are so ideologically captured by the ‘Trans’ lobbies and their TWAW indoctrination that they refused to provide academic clarity on the binary and immutable nature of human sex to steer the sex versus gender/gender identity debate in a direction informed on science and not belief.
It is ironic that the UK's Sussex University (where Professor Kathleen Stock was persecuted for her 'Gender Critical' views) could state in December 2021 that it was not the University's position that a male observed at birth can become a biological female6, yet these 41 couldn't. Do they not know the answer? Do they too think human sex is “a nebulous dogwhistle”?
2. Why did we ask universities the question?
We asked universities to provide their position because a university, such as Sussex University, would risk reputational damage by stating a position that it knew not to be true. Imagine the University of Oxford or the University of Exeter, both of which refused to host our project, were to state: "It is the University's position that the earth is flat, not spherical"? Or to refuse to provide such a statement?
3. Why this question is so important
As it is not possible to change sex:
men cannot become women and claim their language, occupy their spaces and participate in their sports
attempts to change young Eve confused about her sexual identity (male or female) and/or sexual orientation to Adam by means of hormones and surgery are unethical, like the experiments performed by Dr Josef Mengele on prisoners at Auschwitz
there is no such thing as ‘Trans’ only people who claim a sex/gender other than their sex observed at birth and recorded, and that is a mental health issue like a 16kg 16 year old girl who claims she is overweight or obese.
4. Alumni Encouragement
As we were receiving only a few responses, and those that responded gave excuses for not answering the question or directed us to the university’s Transgender or EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) policies, we revised our approach. We analysed the Transgender policies for 15 universities:
9 in the UK Russell Group
2 in each of the USA, Australia and Canada
and identified statements in their policies that confirmed that they took an institutional position that it it possible to change sex/gender.
We asked alumni to write to the VC of their alma mater requesting the VC to:
Provide evidence that a male observed at birth can become a female
or, like Sussex University in the UK, state that it is not the University's position that a male observed at birth can become a female. The University could add a statement along the lines that the University recognizes that some people claim a Gender Identity that does not match their birth sex and, in the interests of diversity and inclusion, the University makes accommodations for such beliefs?
Only three alumni did, for the universities of or Exeter, Queen Mary London and Monash Australia. The universities have not replied.
We used the following platforms to ask alumni to write to their universities:
Substack
X/Twitter
LinkedIn
5. Lessons learned
We recognised that without support from a university or a Big Name such as JK Rowling (an alumnus of the University of Exeter, like Martin) it would be difficult, but we did not expect all 41 universities to refuse to provide a position statement. Our estimate for the project with the University of Oxford (and later the University of Exeter) assumed that 23 of of the 41 universities would provide their position on the binary and immutable nature of human sex without alumni encouragement.
6. Concluding statements
Are not universities supposed to advance knowledge? Why would any prospective undergraduate or post graduate student attend one of these 41 universities? A UK undergraduate typically leaves with a debt of nearly £45K7: for what? To learn that the earth is flat and only 6,000 years old according to the chronology of the Bible?
Why would any funder invest in research at such a university?
Why would any alumnus donate funds for a building in their name or the setting up of a scholarship or a foundation?
They could do both of the above with the UK's University of Sussex who were not afraid to state that it was not the University’s position that a male observed at birth can become a biological female.
Why not remove the University of Oxford, for example, from the UK’s Russell Group and replace it with Sussex University?
7. Reference documents
The email sent to the 41 VCs/Presidents included links to the following Substack posts:
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-letter-to-vice-chancellors-and
and
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-is-human-sex-binary-and-immutable
which provided
the background to our initiative
the plan for undertaking it
who we are
the list of universities to be asked for a position statement
the transcript of the BBC interview with Nancy Kelley (former CEO of Stonewall) where she stated that it is not possible to change sex.
There is a Substack post for each of 15 universities we encouraged alumni to write to. Each:
identifies the statements that confirms the University has taken an institutional position that it is possible to change sex/gender
contains the text of the email to be sent to the VC
The UK
The University of Cambridge
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-3-university-of-cambridge-alumni
Edinburgh University
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-6-edinburgh-university-alumni
Exeter University
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-7-university-of-exeter-alumni
Glasgow University
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-8-university-of-glasgow-alumni
Imperial College London
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-9-imperial-college-london-alumni
Leeds University
https://mneill.su bstack.com/p/isbi-11-university-of-leeds-alumni
Manchester University
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-13-the-university-of-manchester
Oxford University
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-16-university-of-oxford-alumni
Queen Mary University London
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-17-queen-mary-university-of
The USA
The University of California (Berkley)
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-24-university-of-california
Harvard University
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-26-harvard-university-alumni
Canada
British Columbia University
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-31-university-of-british-columbia
Toronto University
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-33-university-of-toronto-alumni
Australia
Sydney University
https://mneill.substack.com/p/isbi-37-the-university-of-sydney
Monash University
https://open.substack.com/pub/mneill/p/isbi-39-monash-university-alumni
Version History
Version 2: 28 May 2025
replaced infographic with a spreadsheet screenshot
clarified statement on Paris Olympics and added recent definition of ‘Transgenderism’
Added paragraph on the UKSC FWS ruling and the Sandie Peggie case
Allowed comments
Version 1: 11 Sep 2024
Trans Women Are Women
https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2024-0042
Retrieved 24 Feb 2025
https://forms.gle/oDYgnobrMiScaMEt5
Retrieved 28 May2025
Email of 8th December 2021 from Professor David Ruebain, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Culture, Equality & Inclusion), Sussex University
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/britains-highest-student-loan-debt-balloons/
(Retrieved 09 Sep 2024)