> social tactic

This, but not derisively. Note that the university's IRB granted an exception for this behavior, and neither UMN nor the department responded with consideration for the concerns raised by the kernel team until after they banned the whole domain.

The social tactic could have been changed from "we will revert all recent patches originating from UMN" to "we are forced to review all recent patches originating from UMN, and to enforce stricter scrutiny of UMN patches going forward." Second is more honest and also applies social pressure.

That sounds like a good first warning. But they persisted even after Greg KH complained to UMN and told them to stop. A more severe punishment for a second offense is needed, IMO.

The second option also doesn't result in any big negatives for UMN associated personnel because the kernel devs take on all the work of enforcing stricter scrutiny.