The University of Sussex has been fined a record £585,000 by the higher education regulator for failing to uphold freedom of speech.
The Office for Students (OfS) criticised the university’s policy statement on transgender and non-binary equality, saying that it could lead to self-censorship.
The policy required staff and students to “positively represent trans people” adding that “transphobic propaganda [would] not be tolerated”.
The university accused the regulator of pursuing a “politically motivated” inquiry and said it believes the findings were not lawful. It is seeking to challenge the ruling through a judicial review.
Professor Sasha Roseneil, vice chancellor at the university, told Sky News the OfS investigation was “quite a Kafkaesque experience”.
She claimed the fine would “paralyse university leaders” and “cause havoc across the UK higher education sector”.
The OfS launched its investigation after campus protests calling for the dismissal of Professor Kathleen Stock.
She 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 the views of Prof Stock, who has been targeted by trans rights protesters.
“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.”
Prof Roseneil, the vice chancellor at the university, said the OfS findings mean “it makes it almost impossible for universities to have any policies that will control how people speak or relate to each other on campuses”.
She added: “It’s free speech absolutism and puts free speech above all else. And the only thing that universities will effectively be able to do is regulate unlawful speech.”
Prof Roseneil explained she believed the university could only take action against antisemitic or anti-Muslim propaganda if it was actually illegal which is a “very high bar”.
But Arif Ahmed, the director for freedom of speech and academic freedom at the OfS, defended the fine.
He told Sky News: “If you have policies which are restricting what viewpoints you can express, what ideas can be expressed, then that’s inconsistent with the whole aim of the university, with the aim of research and with the aim of a genuine humanistic education.
“So for all of those reasons, we think it’s really important that the fine reflects the severity of the breaches that we saw, the damage that they caused,” he said.
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The OfS was given the power in January to issue fines where freedom of speech was not upheld at a university.
The penalty issued to the University of Sussex is the largest-ever issued by the regulator, with the institution saying it is 15 times larger than any other sanction imposed.
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Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, said that “free speech and academic freedom are non-negotiables in our universities”.
“If you go to university you must be prepared to have your views challenged, hear contrary opinions and be exposed to uncomfortable truths,” she said.
“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.”
