The University of Sussex intends to mount a legal challenge after being fined £585,000 for failing to uphold freedom of speech.
The fine from the Office for Students (OfS) came following a lengthy investigation into the university’s handling of protests over former professor Kathleen Stock’s views on gender identity.
The protests, held in 2021, demanded that Professor Stock be dismissed over her views.
The OfS concluded that the university failed to uphold freedom of speech on campus.
It determined that the university's trans and non-binary equality policy had a "chilling effect", potentially leading to self-censorship among students and staff.
The report noted that Professor Stock "felt unable to teach certain topics" because of the policy.
Vice-Chancellor Sasha Roseneil has confirmed the university intends to mount a legal challenge against the investigation’s findings.
Writing for the website UnHerd, Professor Stock said she was “surprised” by the university leader’s “combative response” to the OfS’s judgment, especially as she was not vice-chancellor at the University of Sussex at the time of the protests.
“I would have thought there was an opportunity here to regretfully concede past mistakes on someone else’s watch, then move on,” she wrote.
She added: “As far as I am concerned, the findings are very welcome. I hope the sector finally pays proper attention.”
Professor Stock acknowledged that the university had changed its trans policy but she claimed that many “dim-witted, claustrophobic policies” were still in place across universities.
She said she had tried hard to “raise the alarm” to colleagues about the effects of trans policies on free speech.
Professor Roseneil has accused the OfS of “perpetuating the culture wars” and she warned of the implications of the investigation’s outcome for the sector.
In a Politics Home article, she claimed the “Kafka-esque” investigation spoke only to Professor Stock and was “desk-based”, and she said the OfS had refused to hold “any substantive meeting” with the university.
On Wednesday, the higher education regulator suggested that universities could face penalties higher than £585,000 if they fail to uphold free speech.
The maximum fine for the University of Sussex could have been more than £3.2 million after it breached two of conditions of registration – but it was reduced to £585,000, the OfS said.
Professor Arif Ahmed, director for freedom of speech and academic freedom at the OfS, said: “Future cases will not be the first case of their kind, so there will be a potential for higher fines in the future.”
He added: “I think universities should be looking at their policies and thinking carefully about what they need to do to comply with the law and to comply with regulatory requirements.”
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