British authorities issued a record fine against one of the country’s universities on Wednesday for issues including failing to “uphold the freedom of speech and academic freedom” in a policy statement on transgender equality, an escalation in the debate over student and staff rights on campus. The Office for Students, the regulator for higher education in England, imposed a penalty of 585,000 pounds, more than $755,000, on the University of Sussex. The fine from the regulator, the Office for Students, comes amid fraught conversations about both trans rights and free speech on campuses in the United States and Britain, with many universities trying to balance the right of free expression with preventing hate speech. Dr. Stock quit in 2021 after she was accused of being transphobic by students and activists for arguing that transgender women were not women. She said she faced a campaign of harassment, bullying and character assassination before quitting.
