Problem is, hardly anyone is spending money on lawyers to defend Free Software. So the cheapest way to defend Free Software is to ban submissions from people who have a record of submitting crap.

Blocking an entire University seems extreme; but just think of it as a sanction on the University's ethics board. I think a (short, and very explicit) apology from the ethics board ought to suffice, to get the Uni off the hook.

And I think those researchers should not be allowed near Free Software again, unless their pushes are going to be rigourously scrutinised.