A UNIVERSITY professor has resigned after a student campaign for her to be sacked amid alleged transphobia.

Professor Kathleen Stock has left her job as a philosophy lecturer at the University of Sussex.

The academic has been repeatedly accused of alleged transphobia over the past month for her views on gender identity, with a group of students actively campaigning for her to be fired.

The university has "unequivocally" defended Prof Stock and her "right to exercise her academic freedom and lawful freedom of speech".

In a statement announcing the resignation the university said: "I would like to make it very clear that it is unlawful to discriminate against someone on the grounds of sex and of philosophical belief. Her departure is a loss to us all.

"We will of course reflect on Professor Stock's experiences and it will form part of how the university learns from this and moves forwards - together."

It also said: "We had hoped that Professor Stock would feel able to return to work, and we would have supported her to do so.

"She has decided that recent events have meant that this will not be possible, and we respect and understand that decision.

"We will miss her many contributions, from which the university has benefited during her time here."

In a series of tweets Prof Stock expressed her sadness at leaving and said it had been a difficult few years.

She said: "Sad to announce I’m leaving @SussexUni. Here’s the university statement. This has been a very difficult few years, but the leadership’s approach more recently has been admirable and decent. I hope that other institutions in similar situations can learn from this."

She will not be officially commenting on the matter until next week.

The professor thanked various people and organisations for supporting her, such as Aurora New Dawn which offers support and advocacy to survivors of domestic abuse, sexual violence and stalking.

Students criticised the university for its stance on the row and accused it of creating a "hostile environment" for trans and non-binary students.

Many stood in support of the group of anonymous students who posted signs and protested around the campus.

Anti Terf Sussex said of the resignation announcement on its Instagram story: "We f***ing did it. Yes yes yes. Oh my God."

They added "good f***ing riddance" and later said that it was a win for LGBTQ students and thanked those who had supported the campaign.

Tom Pashby, a non-binary master's student at the university, said: "It’s definitely a mixed day for the trans and non-binary student community at Sussex. Unfortunately the university is still clearly defending transphobia and going as far as to threaten students who stand up for what’s right.

"They made the wrong decision at every single turn. They should have reached out to trans and non-binary students to 1. Make sure we’re OK and 2. understand why some of us were protesting against this particular professor.

"Instead they chose to continue to aggressively ‘other’ us and demonise us."

Tom says "it is never too late for the university realise it’s mistakes and try to start making amends" and hopes that with vice chancellor Adam Tickell leaving soon it is "a chance to start afresh".

Tom is now calling on the university to commission an independent review "into its own institutional transphobia".

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