A PROFESSOR who resigned from the University of Sussex amid accusations of transphobia has been offered a new role at an American university.

The newly-founded University of Austin has offered Professor Kathleen Stock the role of faculty fellow at the institution, which says it is "building a university dedicated to the fearless pursuit of truth."

On Twitter, Prof Stock said she was "delighted to be invited to be a founding faculty fellow of the University of Austin, a new initiative announced today alongside several other stellar individuals.

"I accepted with alacrity. It's an exciting looking project, focused on free inquiry."

Prof Stock announced her resignation from the University of Sussex last month following a student campaign for her to be sacked after accusations of transphobia.

Sussex University thanked her for her "vital contributions to the university and the field of philosophy".

In a post on Substack, former president of St. John's College in Annapolis Pano Kanelos explained he set up the institution to fix America's "broken higher education system".

Referring to incidents like Prof Stock's resignation, he said: "We had thought such censoriousness was possible only under oppressive regimes in distant lands.

"But it turns out that fear can become endemic in a free society.

"It can become most acute in the one place - the university - that is supposed to defend the right to think the unthinkable, discuss the unmentionable, and challenge the unchallengeable."

In January, hundreds of academics criticised the decision to make Prof Stock an OBE for services to higher education.

In an open letter, signatories condemned academics who use their status to "further gender oppression" and said they denounced "transphobia in all its forms".

Prof Stock, speaking to BBC Radio Four's Woman's Hour claimed that some academics at Sussex University may have fuelled protests against her.

She said: "I don't know that the student activity would be there if the colleague activity hadn't been there.

"There's a small group of people who are absolutely opposed to the sorts of things I say and instead of getting involved in arguing with me using reason, evidence, the traditional university methods, they tell their students in lectures that I pose a harm to trans students."

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