The ongoing poison that is the Athena SWAN Ireland Charter enforces uncritical adoption of a number of contested ideas. Universities are compelled to sign up to the Athena SWAN contentious unscientific and ideological principles or else lose eligibility for research funding. Activist groups are being brought in to ‘educate’ staff to think in a certain way. Conformity is required as a tick box exercise to win awards that are displayed like ‘stars’ on websites - gold, silver, bronze - (like what I got for good writing when I was five). To display a star is to indicate compliance. Yes, universities have become ‘passive, conformist and feeble - and excessively bureaucratic’.
‘The powerhouses of intellect, the universities, have lost their nerve, and become passive, conformist and feeble - and excessively bureaucratic’ - Iain McGilchrist, ‘The Matter With Things’