debates over workplace and university trainings in “equality, diversity and
inclusion”;
debates over the proper role of schools and universities in a democratic society."
9. In the GoA (A110) the Appellant provided his submissions as to “why all this
matters”.
He referred for example to freedom of expression, academic
freedom, UoE’s charter, the Education (No 2) Act 1986, the role of the Office for
Students and the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. He said (from
A110):“But having these laws on the books in no way guarantees that the freedom of
expression and academic freedom will be preserved in real life. Powerful forces, on
both extremes of the political spectrum, today militate against free debate; and the
unfortunate Events at the University of Essex show incontrovertibly that those
illiberal forces can be successful in attaining their goals of shutting down speakers
that they dislike, even (or especially) at universities. Parliament is now debating
whether new laws are needed to strengthen the protection of free speech at
universities and elsewhere, and many people around the country are involved in
this debate...But one key input to this debate is missing: hard evidence concerning
the dynamics of violations of freedom of expression. The Facts and Evidence section
of the Reindorf Report would provide crucial information of this kind. There is a
very powerful public interest in making the Facts and Evidence section of the
Reindorf Report available to Parliament and to the public”
10. We accept that the Appellant was raising issues of considerable interest for
many. However it is important to record that the role of the FtT, when
considering an Appeal against the IC’s conclusions in a DN, is limited to the
jurisdiction provided in section 58 FOIA. This is to consider whether the DN is
not in accordance with the law or to the extent that the DN involved an
exercise of discretion by the IC if he should have exercised his discretion
differently.
Evidence and matters considered
11. A considerable amount of attention has been given to this Appeal by the
parties and there was a considerable amount of material provided to us across
a broad range of legal and factual issues. A summary of the open information
provided to and considered by the Tribunal is in the appendix to this Decision.
Open Bundle
12. For the Appeal the Tribunal had the Bundle and a substantial number of
additional items provided but not included in the Bundle. The Tribunal was
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