Batty assault on academic freedom

Dylan Evans is a lecturer in Behavioural Science at my current educational institution, University College Cork. I was unaware of Dr Evans until I read about his plight on the blogosphere. He was seemingly engaged in an extended debate with a colleague regarding the uniqueness of human behaviour. To bolster his argument, he presented his colleague with an article that appeared last year in the scientific journal PLoS One, entitled Fellatio by Fruit Bats Prolongs Copulation Time. For a long time the idea that humans were the only animal that engaged in fellatio was never questioned. Years of observational studies demonstrated that bonobos also perform oral sex and only last year it was discovered that the female short-nosed fruit bat performs fellatio on their mate during copulation as a way to prolong copulation. Apparently, Evans' colleague found the article offensive and rather than engage with him in debate, decided to file for harassment. This resulted in an investigation, which ultimately exonerated Dr Evans. Nevertheless, UCC president Professor Michael Murphy decided to impose sanctions on Dr Evans, which include monitoring and counselling.

Dr Evans outlined the situation in an email that has been posted online:

Subject: Please help me fight the sanctions imposed on me by University College Cork

Dear Colleagues,

The President of University College Cork, Professor Michael Murphy, has imposed harsh sanctions on me for doing nothing more than showing an article from a peer-reviewed scientific article to a colleague.

The article was about fellatio in fruit bats. You can read it online at

https://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0007595

It was covered extensively in the media, including the Guardian - see

https://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/nov/10/oral-sex-bats-improbable-research

The colleague to whom I showed the article complained to HR that the article was upsetting. I had been engaged in an ongoing debate with the colleague in question about the relevance of evolutionary biology to human behaviour, and in particular about the dubiousness of many claims for human uniqueness. I showed it the colleague in the context of this discussion, and in the presence of a third person. I also showed the article to over a dozen other colleagues on the same day, none of whom objected.

HR launched a formal investigation. Despite the fact that external investigators concluded that I was not guilty of harassment, Professor Murphy has imposed a two-year period of intensive monitoring and counselling on me, and as a result my application for tenure is likely to be denied.

I am now campaigning to have the sanctions lifted. I would be grateful for your support on this matter. I have created an online petition at: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/freedebate/

I'd be grateful if you sign the petition and ask your colleagues to do so. If you also felt like writing directly to the President of UCC, his address is:

Professor Michael Murphy The President's Office University College Cork Cork Republic of Ireland.

Your support would be greatly appreciated.

Dylan Evans

Assuming that what Dr Evans has written is a fair reflection of what actually happened, the sanctions imposed on him constitute a clear violation of academic freedom. Dr Evans has every right to present academic material in an academic setting that others may find offensive. This is clearly outlined in section 14.2 of the Irish Universities Act, which states that:

A member of the academic staff of a university shall have the freedom, within the law, in his or her teaching, research and any other activities either in or outside the university, to question and test received wisdom, to put forward new ideas and to state controversial or unpopular opinions and shall not be disadvantaged, or subject to less favourable treatment by the university, for the exercise of that freedom.

What is more, the right to voice offensive opinions is a cornerstone of free speech. Nobody has the right not be offended by someone else's free speech. Nowhere does freedom of speech need to be protected more than in academia, where diversity of opinion is positively encouraged.

As a UCC student I find this whole debacle deeply disturbing and I hope that Professor Michael Murphy sees the error in his judgement and reverses his decision. More information and documents pertaining to Dylan Evan's case can be found here.