A female lecturer from Angus was suspended after objecting to male students handing roses to women on International Women’s Day.
Cherry Hopton raised a complaint with her employers Angus College after it was revealed flowers were to be presented to females on campus, as part of an event organised by the Student Representative Council (SRC).
College officials confirmed a member of staff had been briefly suspended, but stated it was an informal staffing matter that required to be treated ”privately and confidentially”. They refused to comment further on what had led to the action being taken.
It is understood that human resources staff asked Ms Hopton to attend a private meeting, but she asked for formal notice of the discussion and the right to bring a union representative.
The HR department asked that the meeting be held in private and when the sociology lecturer refused to attend, she was suspended.
Ms Hopton was told not to come to work on March 5, but had returned to duty before International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8.
An online petition, set up in support of the lecturer, has already attracted more than 1,400 signatures.
It states: ”We the undersigned, write in support of EIS-FELA member Cherry Hopton, who has been suspended, somewhat incredibly, for rightly objecting to the event planned at Angus College to commemorate International Women’s Day.
”Institutes of education are responsible for challenging any discrimination, including sexism. Not only is the decision to suspend Cherry Hopton unfounded and unjustifiable, but the proposed event is ironic.
”The purpose of International Women’s Day is to celebrate, educate, inform and inspire new generations to challenge injustices related to gender.”
Student Gary Paterson was among the first to sign the petition and left a scathing assessment of the college’s handling of the incident.
It read: ”As both a previous student of Cherry’s and as a member of the student association, I am shocked and dismayed with this situation. I call on management to put common sense and workers rights on the agenda and end this.”
The SRC had planned for a male student to dress up in a grey suit to present women with red roses on IWD. Posters were put up around the college advertising the event with the slogan: ”Every girl loves a bit of romance”.
Several students objected to the move and, as news of Ms Hopton’s suspension spread, posters appeared with the heading: ”We want rights not flowers”. Eventually, it was just one female student who distributed the flowers around campus.
The SRC’s multicultural student officer, Tatiana Zorina, said: ”It is popular across Europe for men to hand out roses on IWD. We wanted to share this part of our culture with students at Angus College. When we learned this had caused offence to some staff members, the posters and plans for the day were changed immediately.”
Born in Dorset, Ms Hopton started at Angus College in 2003, teaching HNC and HND social sciences, after moving from New College, Nottingham.
Ms Hopton did not respond to a request for comment. The Angus branch of the EIS declined to comment.