Category: Academic Freedom

Student challenges to degree classification, and examiners’ academic freedom – redux

| 9 Comments
| Academic Freedom, Academic judgment, Andrew Croskery, Contract, Grading and Marking, Litigation, Universities

St Cross Building, Oxford, which houses the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, via their websiteNo sooner had I published yesterday’s post on student challenges to degree classification, and examiners’ academic freedom, than Afua Hirsh blogged that it’s not just law students who are learning how to sue. Against the background of the QUB case which I discussed in that post, she gave many other examples of cases in which students sued their universities because they had performed poorly in their degrees. (Indeed, yet another may be brewing here). In many of the cases Afua discusses, the students were successful in their claims. But probably the most important case she discusses concerned a Belgian DPhil student who claimed £3m from Oxford University for failing his thesis. George Van Mellaert complained about the examiners and about the university’s procedures. Unlike many of the other cases to which Afua referred, this case did not have a happy outcome for the student. As she said:

The court was less impressed with this claim, stating that “the claimant’s thesis is a matter of academic judgment with which it would be inappropriate for the court to interfere”.

Almost as soon as I had finished reading her article, I received an email from Martin George, with the full text of the decision in George van Mellaert v Oxford University [2006] EWHC 1565 (QB) (29 June 2006).…

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Student challenges to degree classification, and examiners’ academic freedom

| 9 Comments
| Academic Freedom, Academic judgment, Andrew Croskery, Contract, Grading and Marking, Litigation, Universities

NI Science ParkSome time ago, I blogged about the question of whether a low mark is a breach of contract. A little while ago, in a gallimaufry (omnibus) post, I briefly returned to this issue. The context was a US case, Keefe v New York Law School (17 November 2009) [update: 25 Misc 3d 1228(A) (2009) aff’d 71 AD3d 569 (2010)], but now it seems that the issue has arisen rather closer to home. Yesterday’s Irish Times tells the story:

Graduate takes university to court over degree results

A Queen’s University [Belfast] graduate yesterday launched a High Court challenge to his degree classification. In one of the first cases of its kind, Andrew Croskery has brought judicial review proceedings over his lower second-class honours classification.

Mr Croskery, from Co Down, claims if he had received better supervision he would have instead obtained an upper second-class in his electrical engineering degree.

Read more here.

There is similar coverage on the BBC and UTV; in the Belfast Telegraph, Cherwell, the Guardian (also here, on the Human Rights in Ireland blog), and the Mirror; and commentary on the Cantakerous, Gullibility, and Learning Architecture blogs.…

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Freedom of expression, the ECHR, and Turkey: recent developments

| 4 Comments
| Academic Freedom, ECHR, Freedom of Expression, Privacy, Sedition

Flag of Turkey, via BBCTwo recent cases in the European Court of Human Rights demonstrate that there are still large gaps in the protection of freedom of expression in Turkey.

Terrorist speech
In Gözel and Özer v Turkey (43453/04 and 31098/05; 6 July 2010 | judgment (in French); press release (in English)), a Turkish magazine published an article that contained a statement by the central committee of the banned Marxist-Leninist/Turkish Communist Party. Another published an article about the founder of the Marxist movement in Turkey which included a statement by eight people who were in custody for belonging to illegal organisations. The editors of both magazines were convicted of pubishing statements of illegal armed organisations.

The ECHR noted that the editors had been convicted for publishing texts that the domestic courts had characterised as “terrorist organisation statements” without taking into account their context or content, and held that to condemn a text simply on the basis of the identity of the author would entail the automatic exclusion of groups of individuals from the protection afforded by Article 10. It therefore concluded that since the opinions expressed did not constitute hate speech or stir up violence, the Respondent was not entitled to rely on national security to restrict the public’s right to receive information, and that Article 10 had therefore been breached.…

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Academic Freedom in the Universities Act, 1997

| 6 Comments
| Academic Freedom, Censorship, Freedom of Expression, General, Universities

Academics for Academic Freedom logo, via their siteI’m sorry not to have been able to acknowledge the celebration of AFAF‘s International Academic Freedom Day on the day itself by a wonderful blog carnival on the right to learn, ably convened by Deirdre Duffy, and hosted by the ever-wondrous Human Rights in Ireland blog. I’ve blogged on academic freedom on many previous occasions (see especially here and here), and I’d like here look at some of the Irish legal aspects of the issue.

Section 14(1) of the Universities Act, 1997 (also here) provides that Irish universities have “the right and responsibility to preserve and promote the traditional principles of academic freedom” in the conduct of their internal and external affairs, and that they are entitled to regulate their affairs in accordance with their “independent ethos and traditions and the traditional principles of academic freedom”. This is an important guarantee of institutional autonomy, and is a sine qua non for the right of academics to teach, research, publish and participate in public debate without fear of retribution from their institutions. That right is secured by section 14(2) of the Act, which provides:

A member of the academic staff of a university shall have the freedom, within the law, in his or her teaching, research and any other activities either in or outside the university, to question and test received wisdom, to put forward new ideas and to state controversial or unpopular opinions and shall not be disadvantaged, or subject to less favourable treatment by the university, for the exercise of that freedom.

…

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Innovation, universities and patents

| 2 Comments
| Academic Freedom, Universities

Innovation lightbulb, via TCD site.Patents encourage innovation – an inventor who is awarded a patent over an invention can exploit it and profit from it, at least according to the Irish Patents Office. Innovation therefore matters, and Innovation Dublin 2009, a week long festival of public events aimed at promoting and stimulating innovation and creativity in the city, begins today. The festival, co-ordinated by Dublin City Council, is a key project of the Creative Dublin Alliance (press release | Ferdinand | Karlin), a collaborative group made up of Dublin local authorities, universities, state agencies, businesses and the not-for-profit sector, which was launched in Trinity’s Science Gallery earlier this year. According to a TCD Communications Office press release:

As part of Innovation Dublin 2009 Trinity College has planned a range of seminars, showcases, discussions, workshops and exhibitions promoting both Dublin and Trinity College as an energetic, diverse and innovative place to learn, live, work and create. Events within Trinity will range from interactive technology showcases to the analysis of medieval manuscripts; from virtual exhibitions documenting living histories of older Dubliners to a forum on the generation of ideas.

Doubtless, some of this innovation will lead to patents, especially in the universities.…

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Updates: Joyce, hecklers and broadcasting

| 1 Comment
| Academic Freedom, Blogging, Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Censorship, Copyright, Cyberlaw, Digital Rights, Freedom of Expression, James Joyce, journalism, Media and Communications, Regulation, Universities

Updates logo, via Apple websiteI suppose if I spent ages thinking about it, I could find a spurious thread linking three stories that caught my eye over the last few days, but in truth there is none, except that they update matters which I have already discussed on this blog. (Oh, all right then, they’re all about different aspects of freedom of expression: the first shows that copyright should not prevent academic discussion; the second shows that hecklers should not have a veto; and the third is about broadcasting regulation).

First, I had noted the proclivity of the estate of James Joyce to be vigorous in defence of its copyrights; but it lost a recent case and now has agreed to pay quite substantial costs as a consequence:

Joyce estate settles copyright dispute with US academic

The James Joyce Estate has agreed to pay $240,000 (€164,000) in legal costs incurred by an American academic following a long-running copyright dispute between the two sides. The settlement brings to an end a legal saga that pre-dates the publication in 2003 of a controversial biography of Joyce’s daughter, Lucia, written by Stanford University academic Carol Shloss. …

More: ABA Journal | Chronicle | Law.com | San Francisco Chronicle | Slashdot | Stanford CIS (who represented Shloss) esp here | Stanford University News (a long and informative article).…

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Academic freedom and DNA privacy

| 3 Comments
| Academic Freedom, Privacy

DNA, via BBCProfessor Sir Alec Jeffreys, the scientist behind DNA fingerprinting, in a BBC interview to mark the 25th anniversary of that discovery, has spoken of the importance of allowing academics freedom to research. He said that academics should be able to pursue “unfettered, fundamental, curiosity-driven” research of the kind which led to his discovery. It is an important defence not only of academic freedom but also of traditional research methodology in the face of increasingly dirigiste institutional, sectoral and national research strategies.

Equally important – though more newsworthy – is his call, in the same interview, for a change to the UK’s law governing DNA databases. In that interview, he said that “innocent people do not belong on that database”, and he renewed his calls for the UK government to change the law governing the UK’s DNA databases – particularly the practice of keeping the DNA profiles of thousands of people who have neither been charged nor convicted.

In S and Marper v UK 30562/04 [2008] ECHR 1581 (4 December 2008), the applicants complained that their fingerprints, cellular samples and DNA profiles had been retained by the police, pursuant to section 64 (1A) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, notwithstanding that proceedings against them had ended with an acquittal or had been discontinued.…

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The elements of academic freedom

| 3 Comments
| Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, Universities

Times Higher masthead, via their site.As universities grapple with reducing budgets, their autonomy from government comes increasingly under scrutiny, and traditional academic values such as academic freedom come under threat. As a consequence, a recent story in Times Higher Education concerning a recent attempt to define academic freedom in detail, makes for fascinating reading (with added links):

What is freedom? Choosing your v-c

By Rebecca Attwood

Proposal is key part of plan for European ‘Magna Charta’ on scholars’ rights.

Academics would be given the right to appoint their own vice-chancellors under plans for a Europe-wide definition of academic freedom. The proposals have been tabled by Terence Karran, a senior academic in the Centre for Educational Research and Development at the University of Lincoln …

One of the cornerstones of the proposals is the need for academic self-governance. Setting out his plans in the journal Higher Education Policy, Dr Karran says: “To guarantee academic freedom, academic staff must … be able to determine who shall serve as rector. … Where possible, the rector should be appointed from within the university by a democratic process with the support of the majority of academic staff. … Where the appointment is external … academic staff should have the major role in determining (it).”

…

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