Uni of Bristol threatened with legal action for not protecting freedom of speech

A University College London professor has threatened legal action against the University of Bristol, alleging it failed to protect her right to freedom of speech after a talk on gender was disrupted by trans rights protesters.

A talk by Professor Alice Sullivan was disrupted in October 2025, when she was met by students protesting against her views.

The academic has since written to the Office for Students (OfS) and claims there were not reasonable actions in place to prevent the disruption.

Professor Alice Sullivan led a government review into sex and gender data collection published in March, which recommended that data on biological sex and gender identity, should be recorded in separate categories.

She was later invited to Bristol to speak about her work in October 2025, although was met by a protest on her arrival.

Protesters were visible from inside the building, with many of them standing outside holding signs, placards, and loudhailers, as well as making rude gestures. Some were filmed by other of the attendees at the talk. Speaking to the BBC, the professor compared it to a “zombie apocalypse”, with protesters pressed up against the window.

The fire alarm was set off multiple times and the security staff later advised that the talk should be moved to a higher floor. As the professor was leaving, she alleges she heard “howls of ‘shame on you, shame on you’”. The police told the BBC no arrests were made.

Professor Sullivan has since written to the OfS, the university regulator, claiming that the protests could have been prevented if the university took reasonable actions to prevent the disruption.

Universities do have a legal duty to uphold the right to freedom of speech, but they also have a duty to allow the right to protest.

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Professor Sullivan alleged that her freedom of speech was restricted by:

• The number of attendees being contained to 60 staff, postgraduate students and members of public
• Undergraduate students being prohibited from attending the event
• Limited advertising for the event
• The venue chosen was one vulnerable to protests
• Reasonable steps not being taken to prevent the talk being disrupted

The university has rejected these claims, maintaining that every action was taken to support the right to free speech and that the talk went ahead safely despite “unacceptable disruption”, in line with their commitment to uphold free speech for staff, students, and visiting speakers.

This coincides with a new freedom of speech law in higher education from the OfS that came into action in August, strengthening the legal obligation on universities to uphold the rights of free speech.

The new law states that universities shouldn’t refuse the use of its premises on the grounds of a speaker’s opinions or ideas and they should ensure steps are taken to allow the event to go ahead smoothly and not “interfere with free speech or academic freedom any more than is necessary.”

Professor Sullivan’s lawyers have claimed that transphobia complaints against her made by LGBTQ+ staff members at the university, were given priority and influenced decision making.

“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. “This isn’t just about my rights as a visiting speaker; this is about the rights of the university community to hold discussions and to have people come and listen.”

These concerns have been raised to the OfS, which a has the ability to fine institutions if they fail to uphold freedom of speech.

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Earlier this year, the University of Sussex was fined £585,000 due to its transgender and non-binary inclusion policy, that had a “chilling effect” on freedom of speech. The University of Bristol was also reported to OfS by a number of free speech organisations in August after failing to protect the academic freedom of a professor falsely accused of Islamophobia.

Professor Sullivan has shared her concerns that “gender ideology” led to Bristol’s “actions to obstruct and frustrate my talk” to Arif Ahmed, the OfS’s director of free speech.

She shared her wish that the university’s senior managers “could have apologised, and they could have said we intend to do better in the future.”

A University spokesperson has commented that the talk went ahead safely, in line with its “strong commitment to upholding free speech”, and that “Although protesters caused unacceptable disruption, appropriate measures were in place to enable the event to continue and to protect the speaker and attendees.”

The university added that the vice-chancellor had met later with Professor Sullivan.

“We refute claims that we failed to protect her freedom of speech; every action we took was in support of this and the restrictions she outlines were all necessary for public safety,” the spokesperson said.

“Our stance is clear – free speech must be lawful. There is no protection within the law for abusive speech that incites violence, harassment or discrimination.

“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.”

The University of Bristol has been approached for comment.

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