Complaint Against Appointment of Trans Philosopher to REF Panel Dismissed

In April, Jonathan Pike, a professor of philosophy at Open University, submitted a formal complaint about the appointment of his colleague, professor of philosophy Sophie Grace Chappell, a trans woman, to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2029 subpanel for philosophy. [Detail of cover of Transfigured by Sophie Grace Chappell]That complaint has now been dismissed, according to Professor Chappell, who, in an email and also on Facebook, wrote: “On June 15th… UKRI’s independent adjudicator dismissed the complaint against me as without merit in any respect.” (UKRI is United Kingdom Research and Innovation, which directed government research funds.) Referring to the worries of bias that seemed to be part of Pike’s complaint against her appointment, she also wrote: Here are two things that I have spent my entire academic career doing: (1) arguing that consequentialism and utilitarianism are not merely false but intellectually fraudulent, and that Bernard Williams was right to say that…