Lecturer takes BIMM to tribunal over 'unfair dismissal'

Cathy Boardman had been working as a freelance lecturer in cultural studies at BIMM Institute's Manchester campus for five years. In October 2021 she was employed as head of third year: ‘They phoned up the day after the interview,’ Boardman tells me. ‘They said, we're not going to do more interviews, you were the outstanding candidate.’

After studying social anthropology as a mature student and working for years in the music and events industries, Boardman had found BIMM a perfect fit. ‘I absolutely loved it,’ she says. ‘I love music, I love cultural theory, I love looking at the nerdy meanings of music.’

Six months later, BIMM dismissed her. She's now taking them to tribunal, claiming unfair dismissal, sex discrimination, and belief discrimination. Boardman alleges that the principal, Nick Donovan, informed her that a group of students were targeting her in a social media campaign, and that BIMM would not be supporting her. ‘I've been accused of transphobia, homophobia – even though I'm gay – and sexism’, she says. She was subsequently told that she had failed probation and was dismissed.

Boardman's role at BIMM was to teach academic modules she describes as ‘compulsory but unpopular’ – the non-performance work necessary for a degree to be awarded. ‘Some students just wanted to play drums and didn't turn up; others I won round’. COVID-19 lockdowns presented well-documented challenges for lecturers and students. ‘I really feel for this cohort. They were supposed to be coming into their first year of uni and being in the world, and they were at home living on social media,’ says Boardman.

As a cultural studies lecturer, Boardman regularly discussed events in the news. In the week of the vigil for Sarah Everard, who was raped and murdered by a serving police officer, her lecture topic was sex and gender. ‘We're talking about entering the night-time economy, and how women and men might feel differently. I'm not teaching just musicians at this point; it's music business students, music journalism students, events management students, everyone.’ There were 400 students in the online lecture and one asked why Boardman wasn't talking about transgender issues.

The following academic year, after she had taken up her employed post, Boardman was asked to teach a module at short notice, which she had not been involved in creating. She says students used this module's anonymous evaluation to target her. In one of her own lectures, having taught previous sessions on race and racism and sex and sexism, she'd asked students’ opinions on contemporary drag in comparison to early 20-century ‘blackface’ performance. ‘It's standard practice; I didn't invent this’, Boardman says of her pedagogical approach, adding that two students were interested in discussing this in the following seminar, and no formal complaints were made at the time.

Cathy Boardman

It was in a meeting with Donovan just before the 2021 Christmas break that she learned of the student social media campaign against her, which included threats of violence. ‘He brought up the case of Kathleen Stock in Brighton, and said if this went public, BIMM would not support me’. (Stock, a philosophy professor, resigned from her post at the University of Sussex – BIMM's previous degree-awarding body – after a student campaign against her.)

Boardman was also told of an anonymous staff complaint about a remark she'd made on drag. ‘I hadn't talked about this at work much – in the staffroom, someone asked if I was going to a drag show and I said “no, I hate drag, I think it's sexist”. It wasn't a big political statement – people in the staffroom are always saying “I hate this band” or “I hate this comedian”. [Donovan] refused to enter into any conversation about what was wrong with what I'd said.’

Separately, in April 2022, Boardman raised a safeguarding concern, she tells me. She was approached by a student who felt uncomfortable going to the student support officer. This staff member had posted naked videos of himself on his social media, on which he was connected to students.

Boardman continued lecturing until she was dismissed in May 2022. The reasons BIMM gave, she says, were that she had inappropriately expressed her views in lectures, and that she had raised her concern with the deputy safeguarding lead rather than the lead. Boardman disputes this. ‘I had staff testimonies saying that I don't express my views in lectures; I express different points of view and reference them. I spoke to the deputy safeguarding lead afterwards and said: “I'm really sorry if I put you in an awkward position”. He said: “What do you mean?”’

Boardman was a member of the University and College Union and turned to them for legal advice. She says it was not forthcoming: ‘My impression is that they were trying to filibuster – there's a time limit on Equality Act claims.’ She decided to crowdfund her own legal team, with £15,000 raised at the time of writing, and has instructed didlaw employment solicitors. The preliminary hearing in the Employment Tribunal will be in November 2022.

One of Boardman's claims, that of belief discrimination, relates to the view that there are two sexes, that sex is immutable and is significant in some contexts. This philosophical belief is protected under the Equality Act, following researcher Maya Forstater's successful discrimination claim against her former employer, CGD. Barrister Allison Bailey later won a claim against her chambers, Garden Court, who had discriminated against her because she expressed similar views.

‘You say to students in academia, if you're using terms which could be ambiguous, define them,’ Boardman says. ‘I define how I use the terms “sex” and “gender” at the beginning. Sex is a biological term and gender is culturally constructed – the expectations that go along with those sexes in different times and places. Obviously, this is all referenced. I do say that some people don't agree with these definitions and that's fine, as long as you're consistent with your own definitions when you're writing, that's the most important thing.’

Boardman adds: ‘It's horrible being bullied and harassed, but also, I've never felt so supported in my life. I hate asking for money but that's the position I'm in – one of the things that makes me feel better is that it's not for me I'm doing this but for everyone who's scared to say what they think.’

When approached for comment for this article, a BIMM spokesperson said: ‘BIMM fully supports and defends freedom of speech, academic freedom, and equality, and has rigorous policies in place to ensure staff and students are treated fairly and in full accordance with these principles. It would not be appropriate for us to comment on the specifics of this case at this stage, given the ongoing litigation, save to say that the allegations of discrimination are strongly denied, and that important facts surrounding Ms Boardman's unsuccessful probation period have been omitted.’