This week marked the end of a 3.5-year investigation by the Office for Students – the regulator for higher education in England – into the case of Kathleen Stock, a philosophy professor who resigned after targeted protests calling for her dismissal over her views on sex and gender. Following their investigation into how the University of Sussex handled the case, the OfS will fine her former employer a record £585,000. The investigation found “significant and serious breaches” in safeguarding freedom of speech, a regulatory requirement.

The OfS investigation specifically cited the University of Sussex’s trans and non-binary equality policy statement. According to the policy, course materials were required to “positively represent trans people” and said, “transphobic propaganda … will not be tolerated”. Aside from the obvious incompatibility between academic freedom and institutions dictating how topics are taught, it remains unclear why a requirement of “positive representation” would be specific to some minority groups and not others.

Unfortunately, university policies dictating how staff must teach or speak about sex and gender are not unique to Sussex. As Stock details in her recent article on the investigation, UCL’s very own EDI policy explains that “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”. We hope that in the wake of the OfS ruling, UCL and other universities will reconsider including such brazen directives within their institutional policies.

It is vital that staff and students can express and discuss a plurality of views on sex and gender within their place of education or work. We agree with the OfS in labelling an environment in which staff and students are self-censoring out of fear of disciplinary action for discussing entirely lawful views on sex and gender as “chilling”. UCL Women’s Liberation welcomes both the investigation itself and the subsequent judgement in how they both uphold two core values of higher education: academic freedom and the pursuit of knowledge. We hope this will have positive impacts on the discourse around sex and gender in higher education institutions going forward.

The Cheese Grater credits UCL Women’s Liberation with bewitching hundreds of UCL colleagues, leading them astray into dangerous wrongthink. The author appears scandalised that women at UCL should talk to one another, host a conference and a seminar series, and co-sign a letter with other academics who share our concerns.

Flattered as we are by the influence ascribed to us, we have to acknowledge that the Cheese Grater exaggerates the role that UCL Women’s Liberation played in UCL’s decision to cut ties with Stonewall. Nevertheless, we are proud of the part that we have played in opening up discussion of sex, gender and women’s rights at UCL.

The Cheese Grater article contains numerous inaccurate, untrue and defamatory statements. It is a pity that the author did not contact us for comment.

The discussion at Academic Board, was attended by a wide cross-section of academic and professional staff, including LGBT+ colleagues. It was a model of fair and civil debate and speakers both in favour of and against re-joining Stonewall put forward their arguments. We are proud that UCL is showing the way in ensuring that universities are spaces where such discussions can take place without fear and intimidation.

UCL Women’s Liberation continues to offer a forum for discussion of important issues of feminism and women’s rights and we would encourage interested colleagues, students and members of the public to sign up to our mailing list for updates on our activities.

Kathleen Stock has been subjected to an extended campaign of bullying and targeted harassment at Sussex University. Longstanding inaction on the part of the university has emboldened the bullies.

Stickers targeting Professor Stock were displayed in her building on Tuesday 5^th October, and no action was taken by the university to remove them. Posters were then prominently displayed at the main entrance to the university on Wednesday 6^th October. The posters demanded that Professor Stock should be sacked, referencing the students’ power as fee-paying customers.

The activists made a statement on Instagram, objecting to Professor Stock speaking in favour of single-sex spaces and to her role as a trustee of the lesbian-led charity LGB Alliance. The statement concluded: ‘Our demand is simple; Fire Kathleen Stock. Until then, you’ll see us around’. This was accompanied by images of the activists in black balaclavas letting off flares.

We are pleased to see that Sussex University has made a statement affirming that everyone has the right to be free from harassment and intimidation. While those students participating in this campaign of harassment are a small minority, a failure to tackle harassment and bullying contribute to a chilling climate which threatens academic freedom. When the campus becomes a space where people are scared to voice their ideas and views, we all lose out. It is particularly disturbing that the targets of such campaigns are overwhelmingly women, who historically have been silenced and excluded from public life.

Universities have a duty of care to staff and students. A commitment to free speech and academic freedom does not and should not constitute a defence of harassment or attempts to close down the speech of others. Universities must take appropriate disciplinary action against students and staff who engage in campaigns of harassment against other students and staff.

Only a quarter of permanent post-holders in UK philosophy departments are women, and the proportion of female philosophy professors is even lower, despite the fact that nearly half of all philosophy undergraduates are female. As a lesbian professor, Kathleen Stock is part of a small minority, subjected to both sexism and anti-lesbian prejudice. Attacks on a member of a marginalised minority whose only perceived crime is to speak out in defence of women’s rights and lesbian rights reflects the worst elements of a sexist society where violence and intimidation of women and girls is rife.

UCL Women’s Liberation stands in solidarity with Kathleen.

We are shocked and dismayed to see the anonymous Labour Campaign for Trans Rights describe WPUK and LGB Alliance as “trans-exclusionist hate groups”. We worked closely with WPUK to co-organise the ‘Women’s Liberation 2020’ conference celebrating 50 years since the first Women’s Liberation conference in the UK. This was an inspirational event bringing together nearly a thousand women with diverse views to discuss every issue affecting the lives of women today.

We have nothing but respect for the tireless campaigning for women’s rights by the founders of WPUK. We note their commitment to uphold the rights of everyone in society https://womansplaceuk.org/wpuk-manifesto-2019/

“Woman’s Place UK is a group of people from a range of backgrounds including trade unions, women’s organisations, academia and the NHS. We are united by our belief that women’s hard-won rights must be defended.

We are against all forms of discrimination. We believe in the right of everyone to live their lives free from discrimination and harassment. Women face entrenched and endemic structural inequality. This is reflected, for example, in the high levels of sexual harassment and violence against women and girls; the ‘gender’ pay gap; discrimination at work. This is why sex is a protected characteristic in the Equality Act (2010) which we believe must be defended.”

WPUK operate with transparency; their website has a clear manifesto, a record of every meeting and their YouTube channel has video recordings of the speeches made at their meetings. We challenge the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights to identify any statements or actions by WPUK which justify describing them as a hate group or to withdraw their statements which we believe to be entirely false and defamatory.