The person starting the lawsuit (ie. who is suing someone) is called the plaintiff, they file a pleading which is called the Statement of Claim. Hence the Statement of Claim is a pleading to which the court rules shown below apply.

The person that is being sued is called the defendant, they file a pleading which is called the Statement of Defence. Hence the Statement of Defence is also a pleading to which the court rules shown below apply.

Each of the paragraphs is every lawsuit (ie. in every statement of claim and in every statement of defence) are numbered.

Therefore, if, for example, the defendant wants to admit the truth of what was claimed in paragraphs 3 to 7 of the statement of claim, the defendant writes:
The defendant admits the allegations contained in paragraphs 3 to 7 of the statement of claim.

If, for example, the defendant wants to admit the truth of what was claimed only in paragraph 4 of the statement of claim, the defendant writes:
The defendant admits the allegations contained in paragraph 4 of the statement of claim.

If, for example, the defendant wants to deny the allegations in paragraphs 8 to 90 of the statement of claim, the defendant writes:
"Save and except as is hereinafter expressly admitted, the defendant denies the allegations contained in paragraphs 8 to 90 of the statement of claim.

If, for example, the defendant wants to say that the person suing them is not entitled to the relief they have asked for, the defendant writes:
"The defendant denies that the plaintiff is entitled to the relief claimed or to any relief at all."

If, for example, the defendant wants to take no position regarding paragraphs 5, 6, and 91 to 100 of the statement of claim (ie. the defendant does not want to admit they are true, but also does not want to deny them, but wants to leave the plaintiff with the burden of proving that they are true), then the defendant writes:
"Save and except as is hereinafter expressly admitted, the defendant has no knowledge of the allegations contained in paragraph 5, 6 and 91 to 100 of the statement of claim."

But what if the statement of claim contains some truths but leaves out other truths which the defendant wants the court to consider; that too is easy to respond to.  In the statement of defence, in numbered paragraphs, the defendant includes all of those left out facts, and also includes any additional relevant facts which the defendant wants the court to consider.

I am certain that the lawyers for the University and for the Government and that all judges are aware of the above.

Running away from a lawsuit is like not taking the witness stand in your own defence, always a good move if you have something to hide.  There are other technical situations in which not taking the witness stand is the best way to proceed.  But if you are a university and a government and you have been accused of Breaching the Constitution and Violating UN Human Rights laws, and there are documents which indicate that you are guilty; if you are innocent you fight it head on, because you have a duty to the public to be seen to be honest, honourable and of good character; which you cannot achieve by asking the court to prevent an open public trial from taking place.

It only gets difficult to respond to a lawsuit if what you have been accused of is true and you don't want to admit it, but you also don't want to deny it or you will be discovered to be a liar when the documents are presented in court and you have to admit that the denials in your statement of defence were not true.

So what do you do if you don't want to admit the truth, but you also don't want to officially deny it and be discovered to be a liar ?  You find a way to avoid having to answer the allegations against you; that is what the university and the government did.