Lecturer Who Called Women “Females” and Student a “Troublesome Trans Kid” Loses Unfair Dismissal Fight

A university lecturer who was sacked for calling women in his class “females” and branding one student a “troublesome trans kid” has lost his bid to overturn his dismissal. The Mail has the story:

Film-maker Russell Cherrington was working as a senior film studies lecturer at the University of Derby in 2023 when four students complained about his “misogynistic”, “transphobic” and “divisive” language during some classes.

He has now failed at his bid at an employment tribunal to argue that he was unfairly dismissed. …

The employment tribunal heard the lecturer told one student: “If you had worn that nail polish back in the day, you would have been called a p**f.”

Students said Mr Cherrington almost exclusively referred to women in the class as “females” and used “misogynistic” language, describing the main actress in a music video as “not attractive enough for the role”.

They said he had also used “transphobic” language when referring to a student who was transitioning as a “troublesome trans kid”.

He was also accused of ableist language, including an instance when he claimed universities “were becoming a care home for people with disabilities”. 

The lecturer, who had a “previously unblemished disciplinary record”, was subsequently dismissed by the university for gross misconduct in April 2024 over his “inappropriate and unprofessional language”.

He took his fight against being sacked to an employment tribunal, but failed and in May this year challenged that decision before the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), arguing that his human right to “academic freedom of expression” had been violated.

He also claimed his UK employment rights concerning freedom of speech in the academic context were not upheld.

But EAT judge Mr Justice Cavanagh ruled against him, finding that there was nothing wrong with the lower tribunal’s decision to dismiss his claim.

The judge said the professor heading the university disciplinary panel found that “despite having received relevant training, Mr Cherrington had engaged in behaviour towards the students that was discriminatory, and created an unsafe learning environment and there could be no confidence that the behaviour would not be repeated”.

He had recommended he be dismissed due to his “lack of insight into his actions”, he said, adding: “He concluded that he had no confidence that the appellant could return to his role without the risk of further incidents occurring.”

At the initial hearing, Mr Cherrington had provided “a list of eight students who he said could speak to his teaching and how he treated students” in opposition to the four who had complained.

However these students were not contacted by the university, the judge said, because the professor heading the panel “did not consider that he should weigh what might have been positive accounts of the appellant against the allegations of inappropriate and unprofessional language”.

Worth reading in full.