Donna M. Hughes is currently a professor at the University of Rhode Island Gender and Woman Studies Department. 

She has been publishing extremely transphobic material that is dangerous to the safety and well being of not only the trans students of this community but to the community as a whole. She teaches extremely outdated material in her classes that does not align with the Gender and Sexuality Center and do not align with the University of Rhode Island. 

Currently she believes that she is protected by the first amendment, but free speech does not include hate speech. Her work only incites further violence and abuse against trans people and goes against our work towards an inclusive and safe environment at URI. The Providence Journal reports these direct quotes;

"A person cannot change their sex. That is a fact," she said. "I have a PhD in genetics so I think I am qualified to write about the basics of sex. And even for those who might question that, I have the right of free speech to say that sex is immutable. In fact, I think I have a civic responsibility to speak out on false claims and harm I see happening to young people who are being told they can change their sex."

Not only is she writing these in academia and publishing as fact, she is trying to teach young impressionable students that this is fact. She is creating an extremely harmful environment in not only her classes but in this community by continuing to exclude and commit verbal abuse and violence against trans people. True feminism is not just for cis straight white women, it is always intersectional. The hate and ignorance she continues to display towards trans people does not belong anywhere, especially at a place of higher learning. 

Donna M. Hughes needs to be removed from the faculty at URI. URI cannot claim to have a safe and inclusive environment for our trans students if they allow someone like this to not only keep her platform but continue spewing falsities that are harming community members. Words are more than just words, her "beliefs" are rooted in ignorance and hatred for trans people and cannot be allowed at this school.