Sussex University fighting the fine

Exactly! Good luck to your DC and I hope they study hard snd have a great time!

Great article, sets out the case very clearly, thank you for the link.

is there anywhere to follow the proceedings?

Thanks, I think, it sounds like the Uni is trying to render the regulator powerless which would allow the Uni's to be a power unto themselves. There's a lot more riding on this than just KS compensation, it could be the end of free speech on every campus if they win. 😱

This article in the Critic tries to sum it up

thecritic.co.uk/will-academic-freedom-be-upheld/

I was disappointed by the Ponds decision but not surprised. I have a few friends who've been involved in JR applications in other areas & getting knocked back for lack of an individual who can point to grounds for complaint specific to them isn't unusual. If memory serves, a few GLP cases have failed that way.

Although she was forced to give up a good career, pension, and a job she’d worked really really hard for.

She’s been involved in quite a few trans-related cases.

My ds is due to go to University this year and I havent heard anyone mention Sussex at all. They trashed their own reputation and have denied the chance of the majority of students to be taught by an articulate experienced academic in order to pander to a vocal and aggressive student group. Not an environment id feel my DS was safe in, or somewhere I'd think hed get value from.

I’d say the consequences of the University’s actions has been severe, particularly on their reputation as a bastion of free speech.

They don’t get it do they, it’s not the decision to fine them which has had consequences. It’s them and how they’ve acted!

If I worked there, facing redundancies due to financial pressures I’d be furious that they’re wasting more money.

This case is being heard by Mrs Justice Lieven who recently dismissed the Sex Matters application for a judicial review of the ponds on Hampstead Heath by saying they should have applied to County Court first.

I’m not feeling encouraged by her being the judge.

They think the fine is what damaged their reputation - what fucking idiots.

I would be surprised if the OfS’s remit were limited to governance documents. If it were universities could get away with murder (well yes, we did have a policy to stone GC staff to death, but it wasn’t a governance document).

Also presumably they are not denying what happened and how little official support Stock got. Chilling effect puts it mildly.

The University's behaviour obviously not good, but what happens to the money? Does the government just keep it for whatever they like? How many students lose out when a university has to pay out half a million pounds?

“The consequence of the decision for the university has been severe, particularly its impact on the university’s reputation as a bastion of free speech,”

Had they been that KS wouldn't have been hounded the way she was, has this pilched seen the pics of what those toerag students were allowed to do in this "bastion of free speech,”

I don't know if they stand a chance of winning, I hope they don't.

I'd like to see the same amount of money they spend in trying to get out of paying this added to the amount that they have to pay KS. 😁

The Office for Students (OfS) has fined the University of Sussex £585,000 after an investigation found the university’s governing documents failed to uphold freedom of speech and academic freedom, as well as failings in the university’s management and governance processes.
......
The OfS does not currently have a role to act on behalf of any individual. Its investigation was therefore focused on the university’s compliance with the OfS’s regulatory requirements, rather than the particular circumstances relating to Professor Stock.
The OfS has concluded that:

1. The University of Sussex’s Trans and Non-Binary Equality Policy Statement failed to uphold the freedom of speech and academic freedom public interest governance principles set out in the OfS’s regulatory framework. This breached OfS condition E1.
2. The University of Sussex failed to have adequate and effective management and governance arrangements in place to ensure that it operated in accordance with the delegation arrangements set out in its governing documents, including its scheme of delegation. This breached OfS condition E2.

The investigation also found that a chilling effect arose as a result of the Trans and Non-Binary Equality Policy Statement and the resulting breach of condition E1. By ‘chilling effect’, the OfS means the potential for staff and students to self-censor and not speak about or express certain lawful views. Staff and students may have self-censored as a result of the policy because they were concerned about being in breach of the policy and potentially facing disciplinary action for expressing lawful views.
.....
Specifically, the OfS is concerned that the university may not have complied, or acted compatibly, with:

• Section 43 of the Education (No. 2) Act 1986 (duty relating to freedom of speech)
• Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to freedom of expression)
• Section 19 of the Equality Act 2010 (indirect discrimination)
• The Public Sector Equality Duty.

University of Sussex fined £585,000 for free speech and governance breaches - Office for Students

“The consequence of the decision for the university has been severe, particularly its impact on the university’s reputation as a bastion of free speech,”

Bastion of free speech, my middle-aged sagging arse!

What reputation as a bastion of free speech is that? It seems that they're in the bunker, ordering deployments of long dead divisions to counter the GC armies marching East!

This is a link to the article in the TES that i mentioned upthread

University of Sussex calls OfS fine ‘irrational’ as High Court case begins https://share.google/57FH9RCwntprKsEpM

Thanks to @PrettyDamnCosmic who found and pasted the archive. There's a link at the bottom detailing the amount of moolah Sussex coined from Doc Stock and her research.

FGS, that fine is not high. They pay their VCs 300+k p/a. Michael Farthing got a £230k golden goodbye, his successor, Adam Tickell, was bunged £17k in relocation costs alone, now yet another well-remunerated seat-warmer wants carte blanche to indoctrinate, & for her staff & students to abuse, threaten & defame, all while feigning concern for an academic freedom her institution has never defended.

The fine isn't very big. Sounds like they are using this as a vehicle to restore their supposed reputation, while spaffing away yet more money in legal fees on a case they might well lose. And further publicising the reason they lost their reputation.

HERA states that the governing body has a duty to* *secure freedom of speech within the law for visitors, students and staff.
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/29/section/A1

From Google searches;
''The Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (HERA) includes a power for the OfS to impose a monetary penalty on a higher education provider if it appears to the OfS that that there is or has been a breach by the provider of one of its ongoing registration conditions...''

Freedom of speech is a condition of registration.

It has statutory powers to impose financial penalties of up to £500,000 or two per cent of a university’s income from tuition fees and grants (whichever is highest).