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On Dec. 24, Glenys Sylvestre, the U of R’s executive director of university governance and head of Access to Information and the Protection of Privacy, sent a letter to Kruzeniski in response to his recommendations.

In it, she referenced a meeting with a member of the privacy commissioner’s office on Nov. 21 during which the U of R “attempted to provide further explanation and context with respect” to their position.

“We do not intend to repeat those submissions here, other than to respectfully state that the U of R does not concur with the analysis contained in the report,” it read.

When asked for an interview, a U of R spokesperson said the school would not comment at this time as the matter is before the court.

Eaton is optimistic following her decision take her appeal to court.

“I believe because the privacy commissioner ruled in my favour and is the expert in the legislation, that the (court case) will show, again, that the university is obligated to release the information,” she said.

And she’s not alone. Eaton’s fight has found support from the U of R Faculty Association.

“Transparency is important, if not paramount,” said association president Sylvain Rheault.“If an institution gets funding from outside sources, it makes sense to know who is that source because it can have some implications and that’s the kind of research that Dr. Eaton is doing.”

Rheault described academic freedom as a “tool for the research of truth.” He said it’s the perspective of the association that the U of R’s decision not to release the information is a threat to academic freedom.

Eaton is covering the cost of the appeal herself and will be starting a GoFundMe campaign once she has a better idea of how much she will need to see this through.

“I was pursuing this data, not to cast the university in a bad light or not for any malicious reasons, but in order to gain access to data that I need for my academic research, for research that’s been approved by the top funding agencies in Canada,” said Eaton.

“So I feel that they’re also denying me an important part of my research agenda.”

jackerman@postmedia.com