Why Should Delaware Care?
For years, universities have hosted debates on controversial topics. But growing political tensions around free speech; DEI programs; and transgender rights have raised the question of whether such forums should be framed as discussions, rather than debates where one side wins. UD’s recent event on biological sex highlights the question of how campuses should balance academic debate with concerns from students who believe their identities are being attacked.
As transgender rights become a growing political flashpoint nationwide, a University of Delaware event debating whether biological sex is binary has stirred controversy on campus, prompting criticism from LGBTQ students and advocates in the state.
While UD officials say the event, which took place last week, was meant to encourage open discussion of a controversial topic in an academic setting, advocates say it instead framed the existence and legitimacy of transgender and queer people as something up for debate.
“Seeing the faculty put on an event that challenges those queer identities is kind of like a slap in the face,” UD senior Emma Abrams said.
Debates over biological sex and other controversial topics, such as immigration and abortion, have taken place on college campuses for years. Universities frequently frame those as part of their commitment to academic freedom and free speech, arguing that higher education should expose students to competing ideas and encourage open discussion.
But UD’s debate on biological sex comes at a time when universities are navigating growing political pressure around diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, as well as heightened national attention on transgender rights and even free speech.
The UD event was organized and hosted by its Philosophy, Women & Gender Studies, and Anthropology departments and promoted by the university on its website.
Over 100 students and faculty attended the debate, which featured two professors, Agustín Fuentes of Princeton University and Tomás Bogardus of Pepperdine University. The two engaged in a back-and-forth discussion over whether biological sex is restricted to male and female or exists along a spectrum.
Fuentes, a biological anthropologist at Princeton, has argued in his research that human biological sex shows significant variation and cannot always be fully explained by a strict male-female binary.
Bogardus, a philosophy professor at Pepperdine, argued that biological sex is a binary category rooted in reproductive roles. In his academic work, he has argued that philosophical arguments separating gender identity from biological sex do not hold up under scrutiny.
In one academic paper, Bogardus argues that efforts to redefine “woman” solely around gender identity create what he calls a “Trans Inclusion Problem,” arguing that identifying as a woman is not the same thing as being a woman.
During the debate, both professors were given 20 minutes to argue their claims and then additional time to dispute and respond to the other’s arguments.
Joel Pust, chair of the Department of Philosophy, said that controversial topics are often chosen for debates at the university not to antagonize people but to allow individuals to think more deeply about their views and the opposing sides.
“I think part of treating people with respect is not treating them as so fragile that they can’t hear the opposing point of view,” Pust told Spotlight Delaware. “And I realize that some of these topics will be disturbing or controversial, but I think that’s part of a university’s job, to expose students to a variety of views and try to get them to think about them.”
University officials asserted that the event was part of its academic programming and not an endorsement for any position. In a statement to Spotlight Delaware, the university said that “hosting a difficult conversation is not the same as endorsing any particular answer.”
Still, multiple student groups gathered for a separate event, scheduled for the same time as the debate, to provide what they said would be a safe space for students to discuss how it impacted them.
Some argued that the UD-sanctioned event should have been framed as a conversation, saying the word “debate” suggests that one side must ultimately be right.
Others pointed to the power imbalance of the university-backed event, arguing it was unfair to expect vulnerable students to defend their identities in front of professors and their peers.
“It’s unfair for all the students who pay so much money to go here, and it’s unfair for those people who aren’t comfortable doing that to not have their voices heard,” UD senior Erik Zuylen said.
Students reached out to the school faculty and UD President Laura Carlson with their concerns. In emails to students, faculty expressed a willingness to discuss ways to better support gender-diverse students. They also noted the event was intended to challenge controversial views in a public academic setting.
Prior to the event, Pust encouraged the students to come and defend their views, noting that there would be a question-and-answer session after the debate.
“Clearly, you disagree with one of the two. I hope your views will be ably defended,” he said in his email to student advocates.
Rep. Mara Gorman (D-Newark), who represents the area, attended the event to listen to students’ concerns and, as she said, to serve as an ally. She said she didn’t support shutting the event down, but that she didn’t understand why it was a productive conversation for the school to have.
After the student-led event, Gorman said she plans to bring students’ concerns to Carlson.
“I would hope that there would be sort of a larger conversation that the president might engage,” Gorman said.
Carlson officially took office in January, after serving as interim president for nearly six months. Her tenure came after the university’s previous president, Dennis Assanis, had been increasingly under fire from faculty, who criticized his focus on capital development projects.
Since Carlson took office, the university has faced criticism over several changes affecting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
Last March, the Trump Administration launched investigations into more than 50 universities across the country, including UD, for their DEI efforts, with the goal to “end the use of racial preferences and stereotypes in education programs and activities,” according to the U.S. Department of Education.
UD has since rebranded its Office of Equity and Inclusion as the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance, temporarily removed a university website that featured student research on racial injustice, and has taken down posters for the different diversity-related groups and replacing them with posters that appeared more inclusive, as reported by different news outlets.
Carlson did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
In addition to Trump’s efforts to change DEI initiatives, over the past year and a half, his administration has issued a string of directives and executive orders aiming to alter health care for transgender individuals and pull federal funds from hospitals that provided gender-affirming care.
Beyond pushback from the students, local advocacy groups also criticized how the UD debate was framed, arguing that discussions about gender identity should be handled carefully, particularly during a time when transgender rights are being threatened politically.
Mike Brickner, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware, said that while the organization supports the right to discuss controversial topics, universities should keep in mind how those conversations affect marginalized communities.
“We believe that it is essential for university representatives to reach out and engage with (marginalized groups) to ensure that programming is conducted in thoughtful and compassionate ways,” he said.