Kathleen Stock's former university fined record £585k for failing to uphold free speech

Telegraph

26-03-2025

Kathleen Stock's former university has been fined £585,000 after it was found to have 'failed to uphold' freedom of speech and academic freedom.
In a landmark ruling, the Office for Students (OfS) found that 'a chilling effect arose' from the University of Sussex's transgender policy which left staff and students feeling 'self-censored' and unable to express 'lawful views.'
The higher education regulator said an investigation found 'significant and serious breaches' of free speech and governance issues at the institution.
The probe was prompted by the resignation of Prof Kathleen Stock, an expert in analytic philosophy, from the University of Sussex in October 2021 after she faced death threats for her gender-critical beliefs.
At the time, students erected posters around campus and called on the university to dismiss her.
An investigation was launched following protests for Prof Stock's dismissal and it found on Wednesday there was 'no evidence to suggest that Prof Stock's speech during her employment at the university was unlawful'.
It said the university's Trans and Non-Binary Equality Policy Statement had a 'chilling effect' on staff and students alike which meant that they 'self-censored' and did 'not speak about or express certain lawful views.'
'Staff and students may have self-censored as a result of the policy because they were concerned about being in breach of the policy and potentially facing disciplinary action for expressing lawful views,' the OfS said.
It added that Prof Stock was an example of the 'chilling effect', finding she 'became more cautious' about her statements about gender while at the university.
'An example of this chilling effect materialising in practice is the experience of Professor Stock while at the university,' an OfS statement said.
'Prof Stock said that she became more cautious in her expression of gender critical views as a result of the policy.
'There were some views she did not feel able to express, and therefore teach, despite those views being lawful. Other staff and students may have felt similarly unable to express these, or other, lawful views.'
Prof Stock is now a founding fellow at the University of Austin, a new 'anti-cancel culture' university that welcomes academics treated like 'thought criminals'.
She said at the time that she did not wish to return to a British university since they all have 'people like those at Sussex, who've got a light in their eyes, who want social justice according to a very narrow conception that does not involve employing me'.
The investigation also found that the university 'may not have complied, or acted compatibly, with some of these legal obligations in relation to the Trans and Non-Binary Equality Policy Statement'.
Commenting on the investigation, Arif Ahmed, Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom at the OfS, said: 'These are significant and serious breaches of the OfS's requirements. Substantial monetary penalties are appropriate for the scale of wrongdoing we have found.'
He added: ''Our investigation also found deficiencies in the University of Sussex's decision-making process, with decisions about important free speech and equality matters taken by people without the authority to do so. Those decisions may not have been in the best interests of students and staff.'
Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at human rights charity Sex Matters, told The Telegraph: 'This decision will send shockwaves through university senior leadership teams across the UK.
'For too long, many vice-chancellors have calculated that it is safer and easier to permit trans activists to dictate policies and hound their opponents, rather than standing up for evidence-based research and academic freedom. Their cowardice has exposed academics who reject the fringe belief that gender identity overrides sex to bullying and unlawful discrimination by ideological, intolerant colleagues.
'It is gratifying to see Professor Kathleen Stock vindicated after sustained bullying and harassment drove her out of her job at Sussex University.'
The Financial Times reported that Sussex believes universities are now exposed to regulatory risk if they have policies that protect staff and students from racist, homophobic, antisemitic, anti-Muslim or other abuse.
Sasha Roseneil, vice-chancellor of the University of Sussex, told the FT that the fine was 'wholly disproportionate' and that the university had defended Prof Stock's right to express 'lawful beliefs'.
She said the ruling made it 'virtually impossible for universities to prevent abuse, harassment or bullying, to protect groups subject to harmful propaganda, or to determine that stereotyped assumptions should not be relied upon in the university curriculum'.
She claimed the regulator had decreed 'free speech absolutism as the fundamental principle' for universities.