University attacks ‘loud shouters’ in transgender bullying row

Vice-chancellor backs professor as protests grow and police are called in

THE vice-chancellor of Sussex University has backed a feminist professor targeted in a “bullying” campaign by pro-transgender activists on campus, insisting that he will not allow those who shout the loudest to prevail.

Students have put up posters around the campus calling for Prof Kathleen Stock to be fired, describing her as “one of this wretched island’s most prominent transphobes”.

Prof Stock, an expert in analytic philosophy, has questioned the idea that men who feel like women should have automatic access to female-only spaces such as lavatories, changing rooms and sports teams.

The row escalated last night as the police confirmed that they were investigating a complaint of harassment, as the equalities minister and the regulator intervened.

Meanwhile, anonymous students launched fresh protests on campus, and rival posters were put up in support of the scholar.

Amid mounting outcry, the Sussex vice-chancellor has rebuked the protesters and vowed to crack down.

“It’s absolutely clear that all of our staff have an untrammelled right to say and believe what they think, so we take it very seriously if people try and prevent that right from being exercised,” Prof Adam Tickell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“I am concerned that we have mass protesters putting up posters and calling for the sacking of somebody for exercising her rights to articulate her views, and it is a matter of real concern.

“If they are students, and we can identify them, we will take disciplinary action as appropriate under our regulations.”

“We need to make sure that in polarised debates, we can find ways of getting back the nuance and we can get back some of the compassion rather than simply thinking ‘if I shout loud I’m going to be the one who dominates’.”

Prof Stock also hit back at critics, saying: “Universities aren’t places where students should just expect to hear their own thoughts reflected back at them.

“Arguments should be met by arguments and evidence by evidence, not intimidation or aggression.”

It came as the new student group behind the campaign, calling itself “Anti Terf Sussex”, yesterday stepped up efforts to have Prof Stock fired by blocking a road on campus with trans flags.

Terf, which stands for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist, is generally used as a derogatory term levelled at those who say male-born trans women are not the same as biological women.

Prof Stock, who was awarded an OBE for services to higher education, has written extensively to defend biological sex as binary and distinct from gender identity.

Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister, became the latest figure to condemn the protests. “As a Sussex University alumna, I’m pleased to see this support for Prof Stock,” she said.

“Robust academic debate is a hallmark of a civilised society. Hounding people out of a job because you disagree with them, is not.”

The Office for Students, the regulator, also intervened ahead of the introduction of academic freedom laws allowing academics to sue if they are silenced, saying any attempt to censor lawful speech or academic freedom “should be robustly challenged”.