Former Sussex Uni professor who was part of gender identity row to collect OBE

Professor Kathleen Stock, who left following a gender identity row, is being recognised for her services to Higher Education

Author: Catherine Wylie, PAPublished 8th Feb 2022

A professor of philosophy who was targeted by activists over her views on gender identity while working at the University of Sussex will collect an OBE at Windsor Castle later.

Professor Kathleen Stock faced death threats and accusations of transphobia and announced she would be leaving the university in October last year after a "horrible time".

Her decision came after an anonymous group, reportedly set up by students, launched a campaign to get her sacked amid accusations of transphobia.

Prof Stock will be recognised for services to higher education and is expected to pick up her gong from the Prince of Wales.

Posters calling for Prof Stock to be fired were put up near the University of Sussex campus in October, and an image emerged of a campaigner holding a banner saying: "Stock Out".

In an interview after resigning, Prof Stock described the impact of the targeted campaign as "some sort of surreal, terrible anxiety dream".

She told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour that she "turned around, ran back up to the train station, hyperventilating, and got the first train I could home" when she saw the posters.

In January last year, hundreds of academics criticised the decision to make Prof Stock an OBE for services to higher education in the New Year Honours list.

In the open letter, the philosophers condemned academics who use their status to "further gender oppression" and said they denounced "transphobia in all its forms".

Prof Stock has previously said she is "at odds" with some academics as she believes gender identity is not more important than facts about biological sex, "particularly when it comes to law and policy".

Meanwhile, artist Sir Frank Bowling is to be knighted at the age of 87.

The octogenarian, born in what was then British Guiana, is known for his large-scale abstract canvases.

The painter will be recognised for services to art.

Speaking in October 2020, Sir Frank said he was "extremely proud" of the honour.

In 2019, Tate Britain held a major retrospective of his work, subtitled The Possibilities Of Paint Are Never-Ending.

After completing his National Service in the Royal Air Force, Sir Frank won a scholarship to London'sRoyal College of Art in 1959.

His early paintings embedded layers of autobiography in abstraction, incorporating silkscreen images of his home and family members in Guyana.

In 2005, he became the first black artist to be elected a Royal Academician.

Meanwhile, cultural activist Ansel Wong will collect a CBE for services to arts and culture, while chefs Margot and Fergus Henderson will collect OBEs for services to the culinary arts.

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