Sussex free speech row professor Kathleen Stock hits out at dim-witted trans policies at universities

The feminist academic at the centre of a free speech row at Sussex University has hit out at ‘dim-witted’ trans policies across the sector.

Professor Kathleen Stock, who was forced by the university to censor her gender-critical views, said the same is happening on campuses ‘across the land’.

She said she is now ‘disgusted’ by academia and accused Sussex management of being ‘powerless’ and pandering to ‘student victimhood’.

It comes after Sussex was fined £585,000 on Wednesday by the Office for Students (OfS) for failing to uphold free speech during the furore.

The OfS criticised Sussex’s transgender equality policy, which forced tutors to ‘positively represent trans people and trans lives’ in their teaching, and banned ‘transphobic propaganda’.

It said this had a ‘chilling’ effect on Professor Stock and other staff and students.

Writing for UnHerd, Professor Stock said the trans policy was ‘egregious’.

She said: ‘This seemed to me more like an instruction from a client to an advertising agency than a serious pedagogical commitment…

‘[It] set the tone for nearly everything that would then happen to me over the next few years, emboldening those at the university who were already against me, and enfeebling the morale of the rest.’

Professor Kathleen Stock hit out at ‘dim-witted’ trans policies across the sector

Professor Stock accused Adam Tickell, former Sussex vice chancellor, of being ‘powerless’ to change the policy despite ‘showing some awareness’ of its flaws.

And she added: ‘Many of these dim-witted, claustrophobic policies are still in place in universities across the land, right now’.

For example, a policy on UCL’s website states: ‘If a trans person informs a staff member that a word or phrasing is inappropriate or offensive, then that staff member should take their word for it, and adjust their phraseology accordingly.’

A policy on Leeds’ website says: ‘The university will strive to ensure that its curriculum does not rely on or reinforce stereotypical assumptions about trans people and that it contains material that positively represents trans people and trans lives.’

Professor Stock added: ‘All university managers need to do is stop defining concepts such as “abuse”, “harassment”, or indeed “harmful propaganda” absurdly loosely, in order to pander to rapidly expanding notions of student victimhood and the crazed demands of moronic campaigners.’

The OfS’ investigation was prompted by a nationwide outcry when Professor Stock, who taught philosophy at Sussex, was hounded out of her job by activists.

They took against her because she believes those born male should not have an automatic right to women-only spaces if they identify as female.

Students campaigned for Kathleen Stock to lose her job at Sussex University in 2021

Professor Kathleen Stock pictured speaking at the Oxford Union

In 2021, students launched a campaign to get her fired which included demonstrations on campus and defamatory posters.

She faced further hostility from colleagues and the University and College Union, leading to her resignation in October that year.

Professor Stock wrote yesterday: ‘I gladly renounce the title “professor”… no academic title means much to me anymore, such is my disgust for my former profession.’

The OfS has warned similar action could be taken against other universities, with higher fines.

Sussex University has vowed to legally challenge the OfS’ decision, saying the investigation was ‘desk-based’ and officials did not engage properly.

Sussex, UCL and Leeds have been contacted for comment about Professor Stock’s blog.