Oh, Edward, If Only That Were True...

Edward Skidelsky – director of the Committee for Academic Freedom, academics fighting to maintain free expression on campuses – said: 'It's extraordinary that in 21st century Britain eavesdroppers can be rewarded, and a student punished for remarks made to a friend in the privacy of his room.

If it was true, we'd not see an organisation like yours so busy, would we?

At the time of the complaint, Mr Ivinson – who had just started his first year of a philosophy degree – was alone with the door closed. Mr Ivinson, who is 6ft 5in with a deep intonation, said his voice often carried without him realising. When an officer from the university's estate patrol banged on his door to tell him his female neighbour had complained, the mature student was shaken. 'It was like the Stasi had come to my door,' he said. 'He stuck his foot in my door and said you've been saying some very offensive things.'

To whom? Was he on the phone or talking to himself? 

Mr Ivinson was called to a disciplinary hearing and grilled by university officials.

Why did he attend? The thing to do with kangaroo courts is to ignore them!  

He told The Mail on Sunday: 'The first thing they read out was that I had said veganism is wrong. I couldn't believe it – I thought I was mishearing them. I asked them to repeat it three or four times because I didn't believe I was sitting there for saying that veganism is wrong.' He says he made the comments about gender fluidity and veganism, but maintains other statements he was alleged to have made had been misheard, such as that President Assad of Syria was 'a good guy'. He says he stated the dictator was 'not a good guy'.He also denies saying 'people should not parade their sexuality in a gay bar'.

I suspect it's not the veganism comment that landed him before Exeter's Star Chamber, but the gender one.  

He says he apologised to the officials for the disturbance but maintained his right to speak freely in his own room. 'I was totally private apart from that someone heard me through a brick wall.' Mr Ivinson attempted to challenge the decision by Exeter – a member of the prestigious Russell Group of top universities – but says that this was batted down.

How? They must have a process, did he meet its conditions, or not? There's a lot missing from this account.  

Exeter University was approached for comment but did not respond.

Maybe they did comment, but in the privacy of their own rooms and no-one overheard?