The University of Sussex has launched a High Court judicial review challenging a record £585,000 fine imposed by England’s Office for Students (OfS) for alleged failures to uphold freedom of speech. Sussex argues the regulator acted beyond its statutory powers and misapplied the law when it criticised the university’s trans and non‑binary equality policy statement and imposed the penalty. Lawyers for Sussex told the court the policy at issue was not a governing document and that the OfS’s investigation was procedurally unfair. The case stems from long‑running campus controversies that included protests around a former academic, and it tests the regulator’s remit to police university policy language. The outcome could recalibrate OfS oversight powers and affect how English universities structure equality policies and manage academic freedom disputes going forward.