The University of Sussex has said it will legally challenge a decision by the Office for Students (OfS) after it was fined a record £585,000 by the higher education regulator, which criticised the university’s policy statement on trans and non-binary equality. The policy has a requirement to “positi
The University of Sussex has said it will legally challenge a decision by the Office for Students (OfS) after it was fined a record £585,000 by the higher education regulator, which criticised the university’s policy statement on trans and non-binary equality. The policy has a requirement to “positively represent trans people” and asserts that “transphobic propaganda [would] not be tolerated”, saying that it could lead staff and students to “self-censor”.
Following the ruling, University of Sussex has accussed OfS of pursuing a “politically motivated” inquiry against it that resulted in “egregious and concocted” findings.
The OfS launched its investigation after campus protests calling for the dismissal of Professor Kathleen Stock, who left the university in 2021 after being accused of transphobia when she published a book questioning whether gender identity was more “socially significant” than biological sex.
The OfS said the University of Sussex’s policy had a “chilling effect” on Professor Stock’s views.
“Professor Stock said that she became more cautious in her expression of gender critical views as a result of the policy,” the OfS said in a statement.
“There were some views she did not feel able to express, and therefore teach, despite those views being lawful.”
Professor Sasha Roseneil, the vice chancellor at University of Sussex, said the OfS findings mean “it is now virtually impossible for universities to prevent abuse, harassment, or bullying on our campuses”.
“Under this ruling, we believe that universities would not be permitted to expect their staff and students to treat each other with civility and respect,” she said.
“The OfS is effectively decreeing libertarian free speech absolutism as the fundamental principle for UK universities. In our view, the OfS is perpetuating the culture wars.”
Professor Roseneil has claimed that the OfS did not interview anyone from the university in its three-and-a-half-year investigation and that the fine is “wholly disproportionate”.
“The behaviour of the OfS sets a dangerous precedent and constitutes serious regulatory overreach in service of a politically motivated inquiry,” she said.
She added that the investigation findings “leave universities unable to have policies to prevent abusive, bullying and harassing speech and that will perpetuate the culture wars”.
