The British authorities published a record fine against one of the country’s universities on Wednesday for questions such as “maintaining freedom of expression and academic freedom” in a political statement on the equality of transgender people, an escalation of the debate on the rights of students and staff on the campus.
The student office, the higher education regulator in England, imposed A penalty of 585,000 pounds, more than $ 755,000, at the University of Sussex. The fine followed an investigation into the university which started more than three years ago after Kathleen Stock, professor of philosophy, resigned by saying that she had faced a harassment campaign of students and activists for her opinions on gender identity.
The fine of the regulator, the student office, comes in the midst of difficult conversations on trans and freedom of expression on campuses in the United States and in Great Britain, many universities trying to balance the right of freedom of expression by preventing hate speech.
Dr Stock to leave In 2021 after being accused of being transphobic by students and activists for arguing that transgender women were not women. She said She faced a campaign of harassment, intimidation and murder of character before arresting.
The university publicly defended Dr. Stock at the time. But Wednesday, the student office said that the university policy declaration On trans and non -binary equality had created a “scary effect” which could bring students and staff members to “self -centers”.
The regulator said it included the fact that course documents “positively represent trans and trans lives”. He also penalized the chess school in the government and the management processes.
The guiding documents of a university “should maintain the principles of freedom of expression and academic freedom,” said Ahmed, director of the regulator of freedom of expression and academic freedom. He added that the university’s university’s university’s university speech, teaching and learning, and that Dr. Stock has retained the materials of his students that she would have otherwise inclusive.
“Nothing in our approach has nothing to do with the part of this question,” he said, arguing that the regulator concerned only speech and neutral problems on gender issues.
The university has condemned the decision, saying in a statement that it would make it impossible to create “politicians to prevent abusive, intimidating and harassing discourse.” Sasha Rosenneil, vice-chance of the university, promised to set up a legal challenge and declared that the regulator demanded “the libertarian absolute of free-discourse as a fundamental principle for British universities” and “perpetuated cultural wars”.
President Trump made transgender problems a campaign objective and, in February, forbidden TRANS athletes to participate in the sports of girls and women. The administration has also been accused of targeting universities on their transgender policies.
The British government said in January That he would implement a new law to strengthen academic freedom on campuses, but canceled a provision which would have allowed anyone who said that his freedom of expression had been limited to bringing legal action against a university.
On Wednesday, Bridget Phillipson, secretary of education, said in a statement that the new measures were necessary to ensure that “students and academics are not muzzle by the scary effect demonstrated in this case”.
“Freedom of expression and academic freedom are not negotiable in our universities, and I have been clear that when these principles are not confirmed, robust measures will be taken,” she said.
The fine imposed at the University of Sussex is the most important demonstration to date of the regulator’s mandate.
Dr. Roseneil said that the investigation method was “completely unacceptable” because the regulator had not spoken to any academic employee and met only with Dr Stock. She also called the “totally disproportionate” fine.
The University has supervised the decision in the context of long -standing tensions between the higher education industry and the regulator. In 2023, a report by a committee of the Chamber of Lords, the upper room of the Superior Chamber of the British Parliament, find that the regulator’s approach was “arbitrary, too controlling and unnecessarily combative”. In 2024, a government goodbye noted that he was considered “contradictory and too legalist”.
Dr. Ahmed, who was appointed under the previous conservative government, defended the investigation and said the results were “robust and based on solid evidence”.
He added that the student office had examined the university’s guiding documents, which showed that the school had broken the regulator’s rules and did not need to interview university employees.
“We believe that the evidence we have obtained – and the kind of evidence that we have obtained – were adapted to the things we are looking for,” he said.
Dr. Stock did not respond to a request for comments.
