Professor Alice Sullivan threatens legal action against the University of Bristol

[WarriorN]

University threatened with legal action after protest at academic's talk https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyx3y84ln9o

And it was visiting bluesky / JMs page that highlighted this to me - thanks Jo 🤣

Apparently it was on the today programme near 9 am; can’t currently listen yet

Apparently a piece in the telegraph too:

https://bsky.app/profile/goodlawproject.org

Alice Sullivan's case is at the top of the BBC online news page, and includes the following information. A little chink in the wall of disinformation we have had thus far from them. Hopefully people might begin to ask why this female speaker and the people attending would need protecting, and from whom.

Kathleen Stock had previously left her job as professor of philosophy at Sussex following protests against her gender-critical views, which generally say that a person's sex cannot be changed and takes precedence over their gender identity.

A University of Bristol spokesperson said... "Although protesters caused unacceptable disruption, appropriate measures were in place to enable the event to continue and to protect the speaker and attendees,"

Masked men wielding threats is definitely not something that should be seen as acceptable behaviour on a university campus

What a very cynical and nasty thing for him to say. From his own weird psyche he condemns himself 🙄

Sullivan may have had good reason to only be able to take this step now. She may have been in negotiations or discussions regarding this matter and only decided to take it to law because those negotiation or discussions failed.

quotes from article:

"Everyone has a right to peaceful protest, but that must never amount to a heckler's veto, which means shutting down other people's right to speak," she said.

The fire alarm was set off more than once, disrupting the talk, until security staff advised they move to a higher floor.

That’s obstruction of free speech

I attended the talk. No they did not take steps to ensure it went ahead smoothly. The protesters were allowed to bang on the windows (listed building) throughout and the fire alarm was going for minutes on end. I lost personal property when we had to move room in the middle. Anyone unable to use stairs would have been totally abandoned, we had to troop up a few flights without notice. A uni staff member then warned Prof Sullivan not to overrun!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002ntt7

Start at 2:44:31, with Nick Robinson interviewing Alice Sullivan.

Prof. Sullivan effectively conveyed the extreme reasonableness of her views.

Peaceful protesting does not equal harassment and intimidation, threats (including placards containing threats) or setting off fire alarms.

Setting off fire alarms deliberately at other times would get you kicked out of a university or university halls.

Would Bristol University like to clarify what they think counts as peaceful protest.

He’s only interested in controlling the narrative, not in what is or isn’t true.

Very encouraging to see the BBC belatedly reporting this as one would expect the national broadcaster to do.

Oooh he's fewmin', well done to Prof Sullivan and the BBC for ruining his morning.
JKR continues to absolutely dominate his every waking hour too. All of his interactions on BS are with the same small group of TRA, it must wound him deeply to be so irrelevant these days. And he's still pissed at the BBC for not being interested in his "extremely expensive survey"
Sad times

He's definitely not an angry man is he?

@RedToothBrush so angry he went off to lift weights then post about getting a pb.
Foxes beware!!!

Oh god he's not on riods is he?

My daughter is at UoB and I'm not in the least bit surprised that they allowed this kind of nonsense.

It's a city campus with multiple sites over a wide area. It can't possibly have been that difficult for them to find a secure location where disruption could have been kept firmly away from
the event itself...if they'd wanted to and not feared the backlash from the multitude of trans students and their supporters.

The irony of the fox killer complaining about people threatening to sue is off the scale. That's his entire grift: give me some money, I might sue someone.

I don't understand why they aren't expelling the violent, intolerant little bigots?

The article in the Telegraph

https://archive.ph/cZuPn

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/22/academic-threatens-sue-university-pro-trans-protest/

The university said

“Clearly the intimidating behaviour of protesters was not peaceful and we have condemned their unacceptable behaviour. We will take disciplinary action if anyone from the university community is identified as being involved.”

but then they seem to make no attempt to identify them.

That comment from Maugham about "so uncomfortable she gave an interview to the Telegraph about it" - they're really not happy unless they've completely silenced us, are they?

I have a niece at Bristol. The actions of the students and the spineless response from the university are unsurprising. I hope Professor Sullivan pursues this and in some way it leads to a consensus on how academic institutions should manage protests while protecting free speech.

Typical rabble-rousing from Maugham, of course.

Indeed!

He is furious, isn't he? Post after post about her. She has really got into his head space!

I was surprised to hear the interviewer saying something like "How do you feel about the government delaying the guidance on providing safe spaces for women?" instead of "But what about the poor TIMs?" Felt like a real change in tone.

Prof Alice Sullivan used to be the director of the British Cohort Study 1970, which has been following the lives of every baby born in one week in April 1970. She knows it’s absolutely key to be able to distinguish between males and females in order to produce high quality information about health and society in the U.K. since that date. This woman should be given every opportunity to be able to speak without a bunch of aggressive and intimidating men trying to shut her down. Shame on these captured academic institutions.