Universities revise their transgender equality policy in the aftermath of a record fine that was handed over to one institution after a feminist professor from her work was chased due to her belief in biological sex.
The University of Sussex was fined £ 585,000 by the Student Office (OFS), the Higher Education Regulator, after the incident with Professor Kathleen shares.
In particular, the OFS took the exception to the University's policy statement on 'trans and non-intact equality' and said it had violated freedom of expression.
Professor Stock, 53, said she was 'canceled' and was forced to leave the university in 2021 after being accused of transphobia.
Her violations include in 2020 that 'the claim' transvrouwen women are 'fiction, not literally true' and 'spaces where women undress and sleep really have to continue to be single-sex to protect them'.
De OFS said that the requirement of Sussex to “represent trans -people translations” and a statement that “transphobic propaganda [would] Not tolerated 'employees and students could have led to' self -censorship '.
Now in the aftermath of the controversy, dozens of universities have removed their policy or are busy revising their policy.
On its website, the University of Leeds has updated its policy statement on trans -equality by stating that it is currently being assessed in the light of the Student Office of 26 March 2025. '
Universities revise their transgender equality policy After the Sussex University received a record fine about the handling of feminist professor Kathleen Stock, who was chased by activists from her work
Activists from the University of Sussex called on Professor shares to leave her position
Professor Stock, 53, said she was 'canceled' and was forced to leave the university in 2021 after she was accused of transphobia
In the meantime, the University of Essex has removed a link to its policy for supporting transgender and non-binary staff, while the University of Exeter assesses its guidelines on trans and LGBTQ+ inclusion policy, reports The Times.
A spokesperson said the newspaper that the university is 'holding our policies and guidance under regular assessment as part of complying with our legal obligations and protecting freedom of expression within the law'.
However, the OFS said that it was 'important to emphasize that none of this means that providers cannot have a policy that is explained how they will protect students against intimidation – indeed, our new intimidation condition will require this to do this'.
MailOnline has contacted Sussex, Leeds, Essex and Exeter Universities for Comment.
Since institutions are now revising their policy, Sussex University has sworn to legally challenge the OFS findings, Vice Chancellor told Profs Sasha Roseneil to the BBC.
It described the judgment as an “unreasonably absolutist definition of free speech,” in a highly formulated explanation, warned the statement behind the institutions that “opposed and irreconcilable duties” were confronted that made them “powerless to prevent insulting, bullying and intimidating speech.”
The OFS was given the power in January to issue fines where freedom of expression was not maintained at a university.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson supported the statement and said that free speech and academic freedom were 'non-negotiable' at universities.
Leeds University said it is revised its policy statement on transfarition in the light of the recent statement
Under assessment: The University of Essex has removed a link to its policy for supporting transgender and non-binary staff
Kathleen shares in the Oxford Union in 2023. In May 2023, the shares confronted with a rally led by angry transactivists while giving a lecture in the prestigious Oxford Union Debating Society
She explained: 'If you go to university, you must be willing to have your opinion challenged, to hear opposing opinions and to be exposed to uncomfortable truths.
“We give the ofs stronger forces about freedom of expression, so that students and academics are not muzzled by the hair -raising effect that is demonstrated in this case.”
Arif Ahmed, the OFS director for freedom of expression and academic freedom, said that the decision to pay the university had followed a thorough investigation.
He said it discovered that the existing policy meant that staff feared that disciplinary measures and professional shares had changed the way she had taught her course.
Mr Ahmed added that the OFS was 'concerned that a horrifying effect may have caused many more students and academics at the university itself'.
The regulator said that the trans- and non-bordal policy policy of the University of Sussex was considered in the context of existing legal duties on freedom of expression and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Four elements of the policy turned out to be 'concerning' in the OFS report.
These include a requirement for course materials to 'represent positive transmenses and trans -lives' and a statement that' transphobic propaganda … [would] not tolerated '.
Protesters depicted at a meeting on the Library Square at the University of Sussex to protest against Prof Stock
Another aspect of the policy emphasized that 'transphobic abuse' would be a serious disciplinary offense for staff and students.
The OFS also threw a general view of the management and board of the university on freedom of expression.
Since he was chased from the university in 2021, Professor shares have been constantly bumped over her views in the midst of claims that she is 'transfobe and trans-exclusive' for the resistance of self-identification of gender and saying that biological sex is real.
Professor Stock was confronted with protests on campus after publishing a book about gender identity, an experience that she told that the BBC was like a 'surrealistic fear dream'. She took her position at the university in 2021.
In May 2023 she was confronted with a meeting led by angry transactivists when she gave a lecture in the prestigious Oxford Union Debating Society.
Hundreds of demonstrators sang and played loud music to try to drown out the academic -while her address in the room was crashed by anti -royal trans -activist Rizsnett, who glued herself on the floor while others rage about 'no more dead transkinderen'.
Sussex's Professor Roseneil has blamed the 'cultural wars' and' libertarian freedom of expression 'absolutism' for the of the judgment.
She said: 'The findings of the OFS mean that it is now virtually impossible for universities to prevent abuse, intimidation or bullying on our campuses.
Posters placed in the tunnel from Falmer Station to the campus of the University of Sussex said they 'makes transstudents unsafe' and 'we do not pay £ 9,250 a year for transphobia'
Protesters gathered at Library Square at Sussex University to gather against Professor Kathleen shares before she canceled her job
'It means that universities cannot protect groups that are subject to harmful propaganda or determine that stereotypical assumptions should not be invoked in the university curriculum.
'The OFS is effective to decide libertarian freedom of expression as the fundamental principle for British universities. In our opinion, the OFS perpetuates the culture wars. '
She criticized the way in which the investigation of three and a half years was conducted, and said that no one was being employed by the university.
“The circumstances surrounding the departure of Professor Stock 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 expression are the fundamental elements of a university, and the university strives to ensure that diversity in all its forms, in particular, can flourish in Sussex.”
