During the academic year of 2018-2019, Frances Widdowson, on behalf of her group, the Rational Space Network, organized a Critical Thinking Series. One of the events, “Does Trans Activism Negatively Impact Women’s Rights?”, was held on March 15, 2019. This resulted in a great deal of hostility from trans activists.
Nine months after this event, on December 6, 2019, the Dean of Arts, Jennifer Pettit, invited D.A. Dirks, a contract faculty member at MRU, to give a presentation in Arts Faculty Council about how trans people were not being “respected” at MRU. Dirks invited Nathan Lawley, a female student who identified as a man, to co-present. No questions were allowed after the presentation was finished.
The prohibition on questions was carefully planned. Duane Bratt, the Chair of Widdowson’s department at the time, testified on May 15, 2023 that the Dean’s Advisory Group determined that there would be no question and answer period and that this was “specifically about Dr. Widdowson”. It was believed by the Dean’s Advisory Group that Widdowson asking questions would result in a “back and forth” and this would create a “toxic environment” within Arts Faculty Council.
As a result of a number of incidents, including the fact that Widdowson had recorded the December 2019 presentation by Dirks and Lawley and shared it with a number of professors and people who attended Arts Faculty Meetings, D.A. Dirks filed a harassment complaint against Widdowson.
Another incident resulting in an allegation of harassment was a motion that Widdowson made about promoting open inquiry and critical thinking with respect to feminist philosophies about sex and gender.
As a result of an investigation by a lawyer hired by MRU, Jennifer Hawkins, only one allegation was substantiated. This was Widdowson’s satirization of a cartoon about “misgendering fatigue” that D.A. Dirks had promoted during a “How to Use Pronouns” workshop.
A colleague of Widdowson’s wrote a critique of the finding of harassment in 2020.
This finding of harassment, as well as the complaint that was filed by Gabrielle Lindstrom (a.k.a Gabrielle Weasel Head), resulted in Widdowson being suspended for two weeks without pay. These findings were not appealed by Widdowson’s union because it wanted Widdowson to be found guilty of harassment. Widdowson learned during arbitration that the union was taking grievances forward on behalf of D.A. Dirks, Gabrielle Weasel Head, and Renae Watchman. These grievances argued that MRU had not done enough to protect them from the “unsafe” work environment caused by Widdowson’s satirical Tweets. If Widdowson’s harassment findings were overturned, these grievances would fail on their face.
On October 20, 2021, D.A. Dirks continued to promote the idea that meetings should start with people stating their pronouns.
