The University and College Union says that only members who identify themselves as a minority, such as female or disabled, should attend its equality conference in November

Straight, able-bodied white men who represent college and university lecturers from minorities have been banned from sessions at an equality conference because they do not have a “protected characteristic”.

The University and College Union decided at its congress last week to allow only members who “self-identified” as gay, disabled, female or an ethnic minority to attend the sessions at the conference in November.

Emma-Jane Phillips, a disability campaigner on the union’s equality committee, tried to have the motion overturned. “Equality reps are passionate about equality regardless of their own situation,” Ms Phillips, a maths lecturer at Northumbria University, told Times Higher Education. “To infer that someone does not understand someone’s situation just because you don’t tick a box is insulting. It is ridiculous that