The University of Sussex has been fined £585,000 by the higher education regulator, the Office for Students (OfS) for failing to uphold freedom of speech.
The OfS started investigating the University after Professor Kathleen Stock left in 2021 as she was accused of transphobia for her views on sex and gender issues.
The OfS said the university’s policy statement on trans and non-binary equality, including a requirement to ‘positively represent trans people’, could lead to staff and students preventing themselves from voicing opposing views.
Vice-chancellor Prof Sasha Roseneil said the University planned to legally challenge the OfS findings.
Describing the judgement as an ‘unreasonably absolutist definition of free speech’, the university said the ruling would leave institutions ‘powerless to prevent abusive, bullying and harassing speech’.
They accused the OfS of pursuing a ‘vindictive and unreasonable campaign’ against it, the BBC reports.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said free speech and academic freedom were ‘non-negotiables’ in universities.
“I have been clear that where those principles are not upheld, robust action will be taken,” she said.
“If you go to university, you must be prepared to have your views challenged, hear contrary opinions and be exposed to uncomfortable truths.
“We are giving the OfS stronger powers on freedom of speech so students and academics are not muzzled by the chilling effect demonstrated in this case.”
Arif Ahmed, the OfS director for freedom of speech and academic freedom, said the decision to fine the university had followed a thorough investigation.
Prof Stock faced protests on the university campus after she published a book questioning whether gender identity was more “socially significant” than biological sex.
Posters were put up on the campus calling for her to be sacked, and students turned up with placards at an open day.
Prof Stock rejected accusations that she was transphobic and described the experience to the BBC as a “surreal anxiety dream”.
She resigned from her university post in 2021 and was awarded an OBE for services to education.
The fine is the largest issued to a university.
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