The
Cambridge
03 October 2017 Vol. 19 Freshers’ Edition www.tcs.cam.ac.uk
Student
Society bars speaker for questioning trans politics
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Bellos informed the committee she would question trans politics before her invitiation was withdrawn
Noella Chye Deputy Editor
L
inda Bellos, a leading feminist activist, has had her invitation to speak at the Beard Society of Peterhouse withdrawn amidst concerns that she would face tremendous protests from trans activists. Bellos has been something of an icon in the feminist movement ever since she became the first non-white lesbian female to join the Spare Rib feminist collective, a second-wave feminist magazine founded in the United Kingdom in 1981. Spare Rib is now recognised as a cornerstone of feminism for sparking debate with its creative contributions which challenged stereotypes and traditions within the movement, in 1981. The magazine described itself as one with the mission to investigate and present alternatives to the traditional gender roles for women of virgin, wife or mother Bellos is perhaps most known for her firm belief that the feminist movement must take account of the social class, minority and majority ethnic identity, disability, sexual identity and religion of women in order to be genuinely inclusive of all women. Her view
was hugely controversial at the time, particularly because of the general consensus that feminism must see all women separated from their social factors. Bellos’ reputation as a pioneer stems from the considerable number of movements she has founded or introduced. The most notable of these is perhaps her originating Black History Month in the UK whilst chair of the London Strategic Policy Unit. The Beard Society describes itself as a new platform within Peterhouse for the discussion of feminism and the role of women and gender in modern society, for which Bellos was unquestionably the perfect fit. Concerns about her event began to surface when she informed the committee that she would be “publicly questioning some of the trans politics . . . which seems to assert the power of those who were previously designated male to tell lesbians, and especially lesbian feminists, what to say and think”. Bellos’ stance is a mere fragment in a vaster swarm of controversy, centred on the developing dynamic amongst females who once identified as male, King’s Parade in all of its majesty on a sunny day in the summer. and those (continued on page two) Image: Hosea Lau
Cambridge tops The Times’ Good University Guide again Will Tilbrook
T
he University of Cambridge has been ranked as the best university in the UK for a fifth time in a row by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018. The 96-page guide, that is published in print as well as online once a year, suggests that the University performed well against the publication’s metrics, which saw the University of Oxford placed second and St Andrews third. The top three universities have not changed position since last year’s ranking. The guide tests how good a university is against nine different factors, according to the News UK website, the owner of the Times and the Sunday Times. These factors are research quality, the percentage of students who graduate with ‘good’ honours (understood to mean achieving a 2.i or a first), graduate prospects, student to staff ratio, expenditure on services and facilities, entrance qualifications, degree completion rates, and student satisfaction with teaching quality and “wider student experience”. The table states that Cambridge has the highest average degree completion rate of any UK university, with just under 99% of graduates seeing their course through to the end. Continued on page 7