Academic ‘prepared to take legal action’ after gender lecture disrupted at Bristol University | Gender
A UK university is facing the possibility of legal action over claims it failed to protect the right to freedom of expression of an academic invited to lecture on sex and gender.
Prof Alice Sullivan wrote to the University of Bristol and university regulator the Office for Students (OfS) to complain after her speech was interrupted by protesters. HE he told the BBC Some people who wanted to participate stayed away because they were afraid, and reasonable steps could have been taken to prevent this.
“Everyone has the right to peacefully protest, but this should never mean a rogue veto, which means shutting down other people’s right to speak,” he told the broadcaster. “This is not just about my rights as a guest speaker, this is about the university community’s right to have discussions and for people to come and listen.”
Sullivan told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that his speech went ahead in October after a long delay, amid a backdrop of protesters climbing walls, banging on windows, shouting through megaphones and setting off fire alarms.
He later claimed that he was prevented from staying there to meet the participants, and later said that he had heard that some people were afraid to come. He said the university had 15 months to plan the event and needed to find a venue that would allow the event to go ahead safely and with fewer restrictions that he believed were marginalizing it.
By the way to the TimesThese included the alleged ban on undergraduate students from attending and the decision to hold the event at the institution’s Clifton campus; It has been described as “extremely vulnerable to disruption by the show”.
Sullivan told Today he was “prepared to take legal action,” saying it was important to show that universities can accommodate a broad spectrum of views.
Sullivan, an academic at University College London, has previously accused UK universities of failing to protect gender-critical academics from bullying and career-threatening restrictions on their research.
He said the report he claimed raised “serious concerns about barriers to academic freedom in UK universities”, adding: “Researchers investigating vital issues have been subjected to sustained campaigns of intimidation simply because they recognize the biological and social importance of sex.” Her other work includes a review of barriers to sex and gender research, commissioned by the Conservative government and published in March 2025; This review suggested that data on biological sex and gender identity should be recorded as separate categories.
A spokesperson for the University of Bristol said: “Prof Sullivan’s seminar went ahead safely, in line with our strong commitment to protecting freedom of expression. “Although protesters caused unacceptable disruption, appropriate measures were taken to ensure the event went ahead and to protect the speaker and participants.
“Prof Sullivan expressed his gratitude to our security team for their support and later met with our vice-chancellor to discuss what happened. We reject allegations that we failed to protect his freedom of expression; every action we took supported this and the restrictions he outlined were all necessary for public safety.”
OfS declined to comment.
