[FOSDEM] Academic Freedom vs CoC at FOSDEM

[Daniel Pocock]

I feel FOSDEM might be the right place to raise this for a few reasons

A recent high court decision has agreed that some of the more
controversial analogies and metaphors are permitted[1] under academic
freedom.  Personally, I would not use the same metaphor in the same
context or talking about the country in question.

Quoting[1] Dr Stone from Melbourne Law School

"given the  requirements  of  the  principle  of  academic  freedom  and
 the  principle’s  centrality  to  the  purposes  of  a  university,
the  particular  provision  that  protects  ‘intellectual freedom’
should have been understood, in some circumstances, *to take priority
over the code of conduct* that Ridd was found to have breached"

The case is about expressing an idea.  It is not a blanket authorization
to insult people.

A volunteer on another FOSDEM list recently used an alias for the
sanitary pass that is based on the same theme as the court judgment.

Another volunteer observed that the pseudonym may violate a CoC.

Anyway, the FOSDEM venue is a university so that makes it a great place
to contemplate academic freedom.

The L in ULB is for Libre

The Nobel Peace Prize has just been granted[2] for efforts to safeguard
Freedom of Expression.

Is it a good moment to contemplate the relationship between Academic
Freedom and CoCs?

Regards,

Daniel

1.
https://www.sydney.edu.au/content/dam/corporate/documents/sydney-law-school/research/publications/slrv43n2jun2021bthcstoneadvance.pdf
2.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2021/oct/08/nobel-peace-prize-2021-winner-live