Andy Healey

🚨BREAKING: After an intervention by CAF, three colleges at the University of Cambridge have amended their #freespeech codes and reaffirmed protections under the Equality Act 2010 for students with gender-critical beliefs! The development follows concerns raised by CAF about the treatment of gender-critical students, including Christ’s College undergraduate @theasewell05, a founder of the Cambridge University Society for Women (CUSW), the only openly single-sex society for women at Cambridge. Sewell experienced sustained hostility after fellow students discovered that she had attended a talk by @HJoyceGender and read Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality. Within days, relations within her college deteriorated: she was confronted by fellow students, labelled a “bigot”, and ostracised. CAF Research Manager Freddie Attenborough wrote about her ordeal for The Critic here: thecritic.co.uk/the-dark-reali… In our letter to the Vice-Chancellor, we pointed out that gender-critical belief is a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act and that conduct directed at Sewell and her CUSW colleagues on that basis may fall within the University’s own definitions of harassment and abusive behaviour. We also noted that the University’s Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech, together with its harassment procedures, already prohibits conduct that interferes with lawful speech or creates an intimidating or hostile environment. On that basis, we asked what steps Christ’s, in particular, had taken to enforce those rules. The letter also raised concerns about inconsistency between colleges. Accounts provided to CAF suggested that students holding gender-critical beliefs may receive markedly different levels of pastoral support depending on their college and the stance taken by individual tutors or senior staff. Finally, we identified inaccuracies in several college free-speech codes, which incorrectly stated that the Office for Students free-speech complaints scheme was already operational, directing students to a route of escalation that does not yet exist. In its response, the University confirmed that Christ’s, Newnham and Lucy Cavendish — the colleges attended by the CUSW’s founders — have now updated their codes and reaffirmed the rules governing freedom of expression and harassment. Read the full story here: afcomm.org.uk/2026/04/01/caf…