ÖS 2:00
23 Ekim 2025
Dr Adam Dawkins
Session summary
This paper will trace the types and pathways of LGBTQ+ student activism in the last two decades, using UK Higher Education (HE) as a case study, with its rich, but rocky history in this arena, stemming back to the founding of The Gay Liberation Front (GLF) at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1970. Exploring the more recent history of LGBTQ+ student mobilisation will show that UK HEI providers, students unions and their societies are often represented as hotbeds of activism (Van Dyke, 1998) as an adverse set of acts. Populist media and right-wing think tanks (Policy Exchange, 2019) position such activism as cultural socialist, chilling free speech and illiberal in nature. LGBTQ+ mobilisation in the university setting is therefore under increased scrutiny. How might we learn lessons from student-led LGBTQ+ movements in HE, to counter such criticism and bolster grassroots impact? Changes in institutional and sector governance through to governance theory (Taylor, 1989) or resource mobilisation will be drawn on to understand how to support and sustain the campaigning of student union liberation officers and recognised student societies. However, examining LGBTQ+ student protest in practice will shed light on complex and sometimes factional features of LGBTQ+ student mobilisation, and how a range of (re)sources and viewpoints might be productively brought together to advance the spectrum of LGBTQ+ equalities.
This will include:
• how conciliatory, institutional models of influence and social change may be used to advance LGBTQ+ rights, navigating universities and students’ unions own governance structures.
• bridging staff and student understanding, including in relation to the rights and responsibilities of academic freedom of staff
• the power of straight-gay alliances around activism
• building capacity and understanding complexity through constructive crossovers with other campaigns and characteristics, including anti-racism.
Biography
Dr Adam Dawkins is Deputy Academic Registrar, and also Senior Sponsor of the University's Pride Staff Network at the University of Sunderland, and has held governance and policy leadership roles at the Universities of York, Northumbria and Queen Mary, University of London. As Adam is a Professional Services leader in higher education, he is not a 'professional scholar' but considers himself a 'scholarly professional' and holds a Doctor in Education for his research in university governance from UCL's Institute of Education. Adam has written, published and presented extensively on the socio-political aspects of university governance, and on free speech/academic freedom and their relationship to equalities, diversity and inclusion. Adam lives in Newcastle Upon Tyne, with his husband Phil, a retired community nurse.
