A gender-critical academic has threatened to sue a university after a talk she gave on sex and gender was interrupted by trans rights protesters, as she claims the institution failed to protect her freedom of speech.

Professor Alice Sullivan, a University College London academic who authored a controversial review into how UK public bodies record people’s gender identity and biological sex known as the Sullivan Review, has written to the University of Bristol and the university regulator the Office for Students (OfS) with her complaint.

Sullivan’s talk took place on 22 October 2025 after she was first invited to speak at the university in 2024.

She told the BBC some people who wished to attend her talk did not because they felt intimidated, while during the event protesters allegedly banged on windows, used megaphones to create noise and set off the fire alarms to disrupt it.

She and her lawyers have claimed the University of Bristol had 15 months to locate a secure venue for the talk but in failing to do so failed to protect her free speech, and added the views of the LGBTQ+ staff network were given “priority and influenced the university”.

“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 BBC.

“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.”

A spokesperson for the University of Bristol said Sullivan’s talk “went ahead safely, in line with our strong commitment to upholding free speech”, adding: “Although protesters caused unacceptable disruption, appropriate measures were in place to enable the event to continue and to protect the speaker and attendees.”

“Prof Sullivan expressed her gratitude to our security team for their support and subsequently met with our vice-chancellor to discuss what happened,” they continued.

“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.”

Sullivan’s threat of legal action comes months after the introduction of a new higher education freedom of speech law, which came into force in August in England.

Alongside this, earlier this year, the University of Sussex was fined £585,000 over an anti-transphobia policy which the OfS said could lead to self-censorship by academics, adding gender critical professor Kathleen Stock – who left the university in 2021 – became “more cautious” about expressing her “gender-critical” views due to the policy.

“Professor Stock said that she became more cautious in her expression of gender critical views as a result of the policy. There were some views she did not feel able to express, and therefore teach, despite those views being lawful,” the OfS said in a statement at the time.

“Other staff and students may have felt similarly unable to express these, or other, lawful views.”

The University of Sussex was ultimately fined the huge sum – the “largest-ever issued by the regulator”, according to Sky News – for “failing to uphold freedom of speech”.

In response, professor Sasha Roseneil, vice chancellor at the university, said the investigation was “Kafkaesque” and the fine was “disproportionate”.

A University of Sussex spokesperson confirmed to PinkNews that it would “strongly contest these findings”.

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