I don't like it either but it's not as bad as it sounds: the ban almost certainly isn't enforced mindlessly and with no recourse for the affected.
I'm pretty sure that if someone from the University of Minnesota would like to contribute something of value to the Linux kernel, dropping a mail to GregKH will result in that being possible.
I'm pretty sure that if someone from the University of Minnesota would like to contribute something of value to the Linux kernel, dropping a mail to GregKH will result in that being possible.