Prof Alice Sullivan claims university failed to protect her right to freedom of expression after protest at event
A UK university faces the prospect of legal action over claims it failed to protect an academic’s right to freedom of expression who was invited to give a lecture on sex and gender.
Prof Alice Sullivan has written to the University of Bristol and the university regulator the Office for Students (OfS) to complain after her talk was disrupted by protesters. She told the BBC some people who had wanted to attend had stayed away because they felt intimidated and that reasonable steps could have been taken to prevent that.
“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 told the broadcaster. “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.”
Sullivan has said her talk went ahead in October after a lengthy delay against a backdrop of protesters climbing walls to bang on windows, and who shouted through megaphones and set off fire alarms.
