[Dora Kostakopoulou has asked for this update to be circulated]

Dear Colleagues, Students, Friends and Supporters

In the summer of 2020, you kindly signed a petition about the injustice and human rights violations I was experiencing at Warwick University which resulted in Kafka-like allegations and a suspension of six months. Many of you contacted me afterwards because I had not provided an update. I wish to sincerely apologise for this. The main reason for my silence was the lack of any progress on the cases I lodged in the UK judicial system for one year, two years and now approaching three years since my mistreatment. It was only two months ago that the joined cases for victimisation for defending equality and public interest disclosure laws and unfair and wrongful dismissal were listed by Birmingham Employment Tribunal for July 2023, that is, three and half years following my suspension and three years from my unfair, absentia, dismissal by the University of Warwick while I was on medical leave which was due to end one day following their arranged disciplinary hearing without my knowledge. This process was recently stopped again thereby interfering with the human right to a fair hearing by an impartial tribunal within a reasonable time (Article 6(1) ECHR and EU law rights).

During the time that has lapsed, I wished to write to you, but, in reality, what could I have reported to you apart from the iconography of trauma and my attempts to understand an altered landscape which was so alien to everything I wrote about and taught to thousands of students for nearly three decades? Unreasonable delays exceeding the Governmental prescribed mean age of disposal of single employment tribunal claims by several times; a pattern of four preliminary hearings every seven months; an interim relief hearing which was never ordered within the first month of submitting my unfair dismissal claim because the judge ‘overlooked’ it; my claim was not sent to the Respondents (the University and C. Ennew) for three months; I was not given the statutory hearing notice for an interim relief hearing which took place three months after my dismissal; I was denied interim relief in absentia, without being given a fair hearing and thus being able to present the protected disclosures and my victimisation case and when I applied for reconsideration, the judge did not respond to me for seven months; several applications for the disclosure of vital information on my alleged wrongdoing from the University, more than 20 requests for the verification of Warwick University’s responses with a statement of truth and more than 30 applications and requests for the cases to be transferred to a different tribunal were denied. All the above can be found in statements of case, my witness statements and appeals submitted to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the High Court and the Court of Appeal (i.e., in public documents).

At the same time, I have refused to be silenced and have launched a campaign for the empowerment and equal and respectful treatment of female academics. Please visit my website (https://www.dorakostakopoulou.com for readings, new publications and anti-bullying material, the need for the adoption of a UK Dignity Act and further information on how both data protection law and the Malicious Communications Act 1998 could assist falsely accused academics. During this arduous journey, I discovered new insights about life and socio-political relations and realised that healing does not require drawing a line and forgetting the past but making the past part of one’s future. For me, this means the continuation of the active defence of human dignity, human rights and the Nolan principles of good governance. My only regret is that I wasted several months, perhaps years, seeking to understand Others’ motives which were beyond my control and consequently failed to capitalise on the immense power that lies in cumulative sorrow and injustice and in inner freedom. I hope to avoid repeating this mistake in the future. It is hugely rewarding for one to refuse to be defined or confined or hindered by tragedy or misfortune or injustice.    

I would like to thank you all for your continued support and to wish you well from the bottom of my heart,

Dora