the grounds that the University’s decision constituted a prima facie violation of the Act of Parliament establishing Monash University, which set out as one of its objects “promoting critical and free enquiry, informed intellectual discourse and public debate within the University and in the wider society”, Cowen pursued and then appealed a Freedom of Information decision about disclosure of the deliberations of the University leading to the dismissal. The presiding Magistrate found that “While I accept Dr Cowen's submission that freedom of academic expression and freedom to hold and practice religious beliefs in a university setting are important public interests, I reject his submission that the public interest requires that access should be given to the documents in contest in this proceeding.” At the September 25, 2017 "LGBTI Mental Health Forum" event organised by the Jewish Community Council of Victoria, Cowen compared same sex attraction to bestiality and paedophilia, incest and theft. Cowen claimed that he was "misunderstood" and apologised for the hurt his comments caused. Publications Seder bircas hanehenin (English translation of, and commentary on, a classic work of Jewish law by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (New York: Kehot, 1997). Second edition with revisions published 2007. Jewish Thought in Context - Studies in the relationships of Jewish and secular thought, Melbourne: Monash University (Series: Monographs in Judaism and Civilization), 1998, 2000 Maimonides' Principles - Dialectics and the structure of Jewish belief, Melbourne: Monash University (Series: Monographs in Judaism and Civilization), 1998, 2000, Judaism in the Prism of the Sciences, Melbourne: Monash University (Series: Monographs in Judaism and Civilization), 2001 The Rediscovery of the Human – Basic Texts of Viktor E. Frankl, Melbourne and Philadelphia: Institute for Judaism and Civilization, 2004. Revised and expanded second edition 2014. Politics and Universal Ethics, Ballan: Connor Court Publishing, 2011 </ref> There is more than this... Lectures for Campion College, Melbourne: Institute for Judaism and Civilization, 2015. The Theory and Practice of Universal Ethics – the Noahide Laws, New York: Institute for Judaism and Civilization (printed by Kehot Publication Society), 2015 Homosexuality, Marriage and Society, Redland Bay: Connor Court, 2016 Aesthetics and the Divine, Melbourne: Hybrid Publishers, 2017 The Human Being in the Image of the Divine – The Psychology of Viktor E. Frankl, Melbourne: Institute for Judaism and Civilization, 2017 The Theory of Knowledge – Perspectives from Sinai, Melbourne: Institute for Judaism and Civilization, 2017 Torah and the Natural Sciences, Melbourne: Institute