The University of Sussex has been fined £585,000 after an investigation found it had failed to uphold freedom of speech.
The investigation by the Office for Students (OfS) found documents which govern university policy also failed to safeguard academic freedom, as well as finding failings in the management and governance of the university.
It was launched following protests calling for the dismissal of senior academic Professor Kathleen Stock in 2021 after she was accused of transphobia.
Stock faced protests on the campus after publishing a book on gender identity, an experience she told the BBC was like a “surreal anxiety dream.” She resigned her position at the university in 2021.
The university’s vice-chancellor, Professor Sasha Roseneil, said the university would legally challenge the OfS’s findings.
The OfS report found no evidence Stock said anything unlawful during her time at the university and concluded its “Trans and Non-Binary Equality Policy Statement failed to uphold the freedom of speech and academic freedom public interest governance principles” required by the watchdog.
It also found the university did not have “adequate and effective management and governance arrangements” in place and that the shortcomings led to a “chilling effect” with staff and students potentially self-censoring certain views.
Arif Ahmed, director for freedom of speech and academic freedom at the OfS, said: “Free speech is a fundamentally important aspect of our successful and vibrant higher education sector. All universities and colleges have a duty to protect academic freedom and to take steps to secure freedom of speech within the law.
“So it is right that we investigate where we have concerns that students may not be benefiting from the free and robust exchange of ideas, or that academics are not able to teach or research what they choose.”
He said the university had made “significant and serious breaches” of the OfS’s requirements and the penalties were “appropriate for the scale of wrongdoing we found.”
Roseneil warned of the implications of the report’s outcome for the wider higher education sector.
“The OfS’s findings mean that it is now virtually impossible for universities to prevent abuse, harassment, or bullying on our campuses,” she said. “It means universities cannot protect groups subject to harmful propaganda or determine that stereotyped assumptions should not be relied upon in the university curriculum.
“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.”
She criticised the way the three-and-a-half year investigation was conducted, saying nobody employed by the university was interviewed.
“The circumstances around Professor Stock’s departure from the University of Sussex are deeply regrettable,” she said. “Sussex has consistently and publicly defended her right to pursue her academic work and to express her gender critical beliefs.
“Academic freedom and freedom of speech are the foundational elements of a university, and the university is committed to ensuring that diversity in all its forms, particularly diversity of thought and identity, are able to flourish at Sussex.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said free speech and academic freedom were “non-negotiables” in universities and “robust action will be taken” if they are not upheld.
“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.
“Through our Plan for Change we will restore the integrity of our universities as rigorous centres of intellectual debate, sparking new ideas that will cement their status as engines of growth and opportunity.”
The OfS is the independent regulator for higher education in England.
