Meanwhile, Professor Rosa Freedman, an expert in international human rights law at the University of Reading, had been told she would be invited to speak in Essex on anti-Semitism. However, after concerns were raised about his gender-critical views, the invitation was not sent.

When the journal was published, Professor Anthony Forster, vice-chancellor of the university, admitted that “serious mistakes” had been made and he apologized to the two professors.

Now Essex has been accused of failing to act on the review’s recommendations and also misunderstanding the equality law.

University harassment policy questioned

Union pre-action letter explains that the university’s “zero tolerance” policy on harassment defines a “hate incident” as an incident “perceived” by the victim to be motivated by hostility or prejudice. .

“The university mistakenly believes that any speech that trans rights activists perceive as harassment is ipso facto harassment and therefore illegal,” Young said.

“In fact, for the speech in question to be illegal, it must be really harassment, not just perceived as such. In the absence of this test, it is not illegal and to ban it – by feminist professors without a platform, for example – is a violation of its duty to uphold legal freedom of expression.

Founded in 1963, the University of Essex quickly gained a reputation as a hotbed of student radicalism. He was at the forefront of student protests in the 1960s and police were called to his Colchester campus in 1968 when students interrupted a lecture by Dr Thomas Inch, a chemical defense scientist at government military research facilities at Porton Down.

Three students were suspended, which led to further protests and activists voted against university officials, declaring a “free university”. Students were allowed to return after a week, but the university acknowledged that it was “increasingly associated with protest and radical politics” after the events.