Christian barred from social work course fights legal ruling
A DEVOUT Christian thrown off a Sheffield University social work course after being accused of posting derogatory comments about homosexuals and bisexuals on Facebook says a judge who dismissed his complaint has effectively given regulators Orwellian powers.
Felix Ngole, who says he was expressing a traditional Christian view and has complained that university bosses unfairly stopped him completing a postgraduate degree, raised his concern when trying to persuade appeal judges to overturn a ruling by Deputy High Court Judge Rowena Collins Rice.
Mr Ngole says his rights to freedom of speech and thought, enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights, were breached when he was thrown off the course.
But lawyers for the university say he showed “no insight” and said the decision to
remove him from the course was fair.
They say Mr Ngole was studying for a professional qualification and say university bosses had to consider his fitness to practise.
Judge Collins Rice, who analysed the case at a High Court trial in 2017, ruled that university bosses had acted within the law.
She said freedom of religious discourse was a public good of great importance. But she said social workers had considerable power over the lives of vulnerable people and said trust was a precious professional commodity.
Three appeal judges are now analysing Mr Ngole’s challenge to Judge Collins Rice’s ruling at a Court of Appeal hearing in London.
A lawyer leading Mr Ngole’s legal team told Lord Justice Irwin, Lord Justice Haddon-Cave and Sir Jack Beatson that Judge Collins Rice’s ruling raised an Orwellian spectre.
Barrister Sarah Hannett, who is leading Sheffield University’s legal team, says Mr Ngole’s appeal should be dismissed.
The appeal is due to end today. Mr Ngole posted comments in 2015, judges have heard. He was taking part in a debate on Facebook about a state official in the US who refused to register samesex marriages.