A college in Oxford University announced a new policy promising disciplinary action if students willingly or unintentionally “misgender” another student.
Regent’s Park College, one of the 44 colleges within Oxford University, released a “Trans Inclusion Statement” on June 1. The statement describes the school’s intolerance to “transphobia” and was crafted with student input last year.
“Misgendering,” or using pronouns that correspond with a transgender person’s biological sex, is characterized as an unlawful form of bullying or harassment in the statement.
“Persistently misgendering an individual with the wrong name or pronoun, and claiming to have done so accidentally, might be experienced as harassment by the person concerned. People who are perceived to be transgender, including those who are intersex, are protected from bullying and harassment, whether or not the perception is true,” the inclusion statement reads.
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“Transphobic harassment or bullying” is against the school’s harassment policy and U.K. law, and thus grounds for discipline which could include expulsion.
“Regent’s Park College recognises the right of every individual to choose whether to be open about their gender identity and history. Any unlawful discriminatory behaviour, including transphobic harassment or bullying of by individuals or groups, will be regarded extremely seriously and could be grounds for disciplinary action, which may include expulsion or dismissal,” the statement reads. “Such behaviour will be dealt with under the College’s Policy on Harassment and Bullying and within the relevant legislation The Equality Act 2010.”
The Equality Act of 2010 protects people from being discriminated against based on a host of characteristics like age, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, and religion or belief, the U.K. government says.
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Students are also forbidden from “making jokes about trans people” under the policy. Students who don’t consider themselves transgender but don’t ascribe to either gender are also protected from harassment, it says.
Regent’s Park College did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
A Christian teacher who taught math at a school in Oxford was recently banned from the profession by a UK Department of Education agency.
Teacher Joshua Sutcliffe told Fox News Digital only “one view” on gender and sexuality is allowed in the UK education system.
People who disagree with the prevailing views on gender are pressured to stay silent, he argued. “There’s really just one view allowed, and it’s certainly not a Christian view.”
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The figurehead of Oxford University has also notably expressed concerns free speech is under threat at the university.
Oxford University Chancellor Lord Patten swiped at “safe spaces” on college campuses as “mad” and “oxymoronic” in an interview with Oxford’s student newspaper last February.
“When people talk about safe spaces intellectually at universities, it’s mad. It’s oxymoronic. That’s not what universities are all about,” Patten said.
Fox News’ Cortney O’Brien contributed to this report.
