Jason Hill denies making transphobic statements despite student testimony
DePaul professor Jason Hill.
Philosophy professor Jason Hill has made numerous controversial statements during his time at DePaul, including Zionist sentiments in an op-ed published in The Federalist. This month allegations arose that Hill has made derogatory comments regarding trans women, which may contradict the school’s discrimination and harassment policies.
According to a former student of Hill, Grace Gallant, “[Hill] is violently transphobic and said that we would be discussing ‘if a biological man could ever be a woman’ which is not just offensive and hurtful, but it’s so archaic, useless and immature to have these kinds of conversations in class.”
Gallant also mentioned they switched out of his class because of this incident.
“The accusations made by [a student] against me… are inaccurate. I do not have a transphobic bone in my body…. I’ll have no further comments beyond that,” Hill told The DePaulia.
On Jan. 21, Hill also tweeted “Trans people should be treated with dignity. Agreed. Trans women ought not to be competing in sports with biological women. Why? Transwomen are still biological men with all the physical privileges of male strength. This move is misogynistic and a declaration of war against WOMEN.”
Trans people should be treated with dignity. Agreed. Trans women ought not to be competing in sports with biological women. Why? Transwomen are still biological men with all the physical privileges of male strength. This move is misogynistic and a declaration of war against WOMEN
— Jason D. Hill (@JasonDHill6) January 22, 2021
While DePaul was unable to comment on the situation specifically, Kristin Matthews, a member of DePaul’s public relations team, said “DePaul University is committed to preserving an environment that respects the personal rights and dignity of each member of its community and providing an environment that is free from all forms of discrimination and harassment.”
“The university’s Title IX Coordinator/Director of Gender Equity is responsible for receiving, processing, and investigating a complaint that an employee has engaged in discrimination, harassment, or retaliation on the basis of sex, gender, or gender identity,” Matthews added.
According to DePaul’s discrimination and harassment policies, “…examples of harassment in violation of this policy include, but are not limited to, verbal abuse, offensive innuendo, derogatory comments, or the open display of offensive objects or pictures…”
Hill’s tweet stating trans women are at a physical advantage is largely untrue scientifically. The idea that people who are assigned male at birth have greater physical advantages is a misconception that is often used to discriminate against trans athletes, specifically trans women.
“A person’s genetic make-up and internal and external reproductive anatomy are not useful indicators of athletic performance,” said Dr. Joshua Safer, endocrinologist and executive director of the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Furthermore, the testosterone levels of an athlete do not necessarily correlate with enhanced performance. Testosterone levels vary between individuals, regardless of their sex, and men and women tend to have overlapping levels of testosterone. For instance, Caster Semenya, a middle-distance runner and cisgender (cis) woman, has naturally high occuring testosterone levels.
There is one study which assesses the effects of gender-affirming hormone therapy on trans female athletes, and the results contradict Hill’s tweet that trans women benefit from physical advantages having been born male.
“This study analyzed race times for eight transgender female runners, who have competed in distance races as both male and female, using a mathematical model called age grading,” the study reads. “Collectively, the age graded scores for these eight runners are the same in both genders.”
The study shows that after undergoing gender-affirming treatment, including lowering testosterone levels, the athletes’ performance reduced so that their performance was now proportionally the same to cis women.
In fact, some body changes among trans women may result in a poorer net performance in relation to cis women.
“For example, the fact that transgender women who go through typically male puberty will tend to have larger bones than [cis] women may actually be a disadvantage,” Safer said. “Having larger bones without corresponding levels of testosterone and muscle mass would mean that a runner has a bigger body to propel with less power to propel it.”
Hill’s tweet upholds a negative trope that trans women are a threat to cis women. Safer asserts that trans women do not necessarily have greater physical advantages over cis athletes.
Hill also refers to trans women as being biological men, which is harmful language that reduces people to their biology. Referring to a trans person as being biologically male or female implies that biology is inherently binary, which is false.
Biology is more complex than people with penises being men and those with vaginas being women. Instead, biology is composed of five main components: chromosomes, hormones, hormonal expression and internal and external genitalia.
Referring to trans women as biological men is also redundant because the term “trans woman” implies a woman who was assigned male at birth.
While language changes over time, referring to trans women as “biological men” is outdated terminology that oversimplifies a very complex subject.
“I’m shocked that [Hill] still has a platform at DePaul,” Gallant said. “It’s one thing to be open to all views, which I do value. But when the view is challenging the validity of student’s identities, there is a line crossed.”
Michele Jansen • Apr 16, 2021 at 10:34 pm
Genetics “assigns” sex at conception in nearly all humans except for a tiny fraction with a genetic abnormality. This genetic XY or XX chromosome has the most significant impact on the biology of the individual to give them the biological characteristics of male and female including the ability to reproduce as a male or female. Gender dysphoria – true gender dysphoria does exist but effects about .03% of the population. There are others who have other issues that may cause them to think they may be the opposite gender or want to take on certain typically opposite sex behaviors / aspects of life but if this happens in childhood, the vast majority come to embrace their genetic sex once they get through puberty. New long term studies are showing people who use hormones and / or surgery to transition do not do better emotionally and in fact depression and suicide increase in this population in the best 20 year long term study. The so called trans-medicine field of today has been taken over by activists who put the trans movement ahead of the health of people and most horrifically of children who are getting sucked into “gender fluidity’ and the trans world by psychological contagion. Sadly these Critical Theory indoctrinated students and members of academia who are spreading this poison into “expert” groups/associations of all fields are abandoning objective reality according to this orthodoxy’s teachings. Objective truth no longer exists for them – trying to argue with such illogic becomes impossible by design. This institution is lucky to still have uninfected critical thinkers like Dr. Jason Hill.
Anonymous • Apr 6, 2021 at 12:27 pm
All of these transphobic comments are making me not want to even apply for Depaul which is my #1 school as of now. Is this school safe for transgender people, and what has the school done to prevent discrimination that is very apparent as of these comments.
PeterTx52 • Feb 25, 2021 at 7:19 pm
an overwhelmingly one-sided “news” story. where was the editor to guy this “journalist” in writing this mess?
Jim • Feb 6, 2021 at 9:25 am
This is exactly like the Salem Witch Trials. We are allowing petulant, vindictive, and ignorant children to ruin other people’s lives.
Chris Terry • Feb 4, 2021 at 3:27 am
Thank you for helping me shorten the list of universities I am interested in attending.
Greg • Feb 3, 2021 at 1:30 pm
This is amazingly, provably false – “Hill’s tweet stating trans women are at a physical advantage is largely untrue scientifically.” Biological men cannot erase their biological physical advantage over biological women even by going on cross-sex hormones because of size and musculature.
Jennifer Snow • Feb 2, 2021 at 11:37 pm
“Hill’s tweet stating trans women are at a physical advantage is largely untrue scientifically.”
Uh, if it’s a “scientific” truth that biological males have NO physical advantages over females then why do men and women compete in separate sports categories at all? Just have everyone compete in the same league, since everyone “scientifically” has identical athletic capacity.
This is so dumb it’s painful. This is not science. This is making up a fairy story and slapping the word “science” on it as some sort of voodoo charm that’s supposed to make an utterly absurd and false claim magically immune to scrutiny.
Carolina • Feb 2, 2021 at 11:32 pm
It’s one tragedy that DePaul is giving this ridiculous accusation any oxygen.
Another tragedy: this article is coming from the university’s journalism department.
A university used to be a place where critical *thinking was the goal. Critical *theory has taken its place to the detriment of all of us.
The best thing you can do for this student is to teach them that their feelings and opinions are as welcome as everyone else’s–no more, no less.
Mark Glennon • Feb 2, 2021 at 9:39 pm
The contempt so many college kids have for diversity of opinion is terrifying. You are book-burning lunatics.
Sue Crahtees • Feb 2, 2021 at 6:10 pm
So, according to the article, Hill refers to trans women as being biological men, and this is “harmful language that reduces people to their biology.”
But also, according to the article, referring to trans women as biological men is “redundant because the term ‘trans woman’ implies a woman who was assigned male at birth.”
It seems that the author agrees with Jason Hill that trans women are male. The author thinks this implies that trans women are biological men. So, it looks like there are two problems: First, the author agrees with what Jason Hill said, while denouncing him for saying it. Second, the author assumes that anyone who is male is a man. This erases trans women who identify as male, as well as male-bodied people who identify as non-binary (and, so, not men). I don’t think the author has a firm grasp on the ideology he or she wishes to wield as a club against Professor Hill.
It’s also not very persuasive (and it’s possibly disingenuous) to cite Caster Semenya as an example of a “cisgender (cis) woman,” since Semenya is intersex, with XY chromosomes.
Rachel Rudolph • Feb 2, 2021 at 2:19 pm
Some of the people in these comments are making me ashamed to be a part of the DePaul community. Fantastic article.
Danusha Goska • Feb 2, 2021 at 2:16 pm
The bulk of this article consists of a polemic in favor of persons with xy chromosomes competing against persons with XX chromosomes in sport. That being the case, this is not reporting but rather an editorial.
Rob Saria • Feb 2, 2021 at 12:06 pm
Joshua Safer is an incompetent quack shoveling horse shit. He has zero data to back his claims just mindless conjecture….
Rob Pressman • Feb 1, 2021 at 4:47 pm
Amen to “DePaulSouldRefundMe” I couldn’t agree more. Wait until these fools start experiencing the real world outside of their boystown apartments, parents’ basements or any other sheltering milieu. Wait until the real world beckons them to work with the plethora of cry babies so coddled that every incident experienced, from somebody giving up their seat on the “L” to another averting his/her/its eyes at the snowflake is perceived as “homophobic”.
What has ths university become? Don’t get tenure because you are not as good as others vying for it? Sue! Be called “he” when you are really a “she”? Ask for DOJ review! Who in their right mind would pay whatever the hell it costs to go here to congregate with the biggest bunch of ——- west of Halsted and south of Belmont?
DePaulShouldRefundMe • Feb 1, 2021 at 4:36 pm
You must find something better to do with your time, young “writer.” I wish I never paid tuition at this deplorable institution. Imagine if you stepped out of Lincoln Park to experience some real world problems, and reported without bias on them, like the raw experience of a recently carjacked DePaul student? But no, try to create a debate and flurry of attacks against a professor who was probably dragged into a useless debate, spoke an objective truth, and then create a scene that was victimless because there was no wrong doing. The DePaulia continues to disappoint and scrapes the drudges of CTU-like calamity. You will not find peace in the real world if granted a diploma.