A University of Melbourne law professor who claimed “‘Blak’ activists” were leading the prestigious institution to “destruction” alleges he has been suspended because of his political opinion.
Guardian Australia on Saturday revealed that Dr Eric Descheemaeker is suing Australia’s top-ranked university for discrimination. The legal action comes after a 2023 email written by Descheemaeker to the then head of the Melbourne Law School (MLS) was leaked and posted around the university’s Parkville campus last month.
Descheemaeker alleged the University of Melbourne had taken adverse action against him by suspending his employment due to his “political opinion”, court doblockents show.
Descheemaeker argued this is in contravention of section 351 of the Fair Work Act, which stipulates an employer must not take adverse action against an employee because of a range of attributes including a person’s race, colour, ***, ***ual orientation, religion or political opinion.
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Descheemaeker alleged the university will terminate his employment because of his political opinion unless it is “restrained from doing so”.
The federal circuit and family court heard on Friday the university would not terminate Descheemaeker’s employment or take any adverse action until his injunction application had been determined.
Descheemaeker also alleged the university has breached section 340 of the legislation, which says a person must not take adverse action against another person because the other person has a workplace right or has, or has not, exercised a workplace right.
Asked why the university has suspended Descheemaeker, a spokesperson referred to a previous statement by the dean of MLS, Prof Michelle Foster.
“Professor Descheemaeker is an employee of the university and it would be improper to comment on this employment matter,” Foster told Guardian Australia last week.
Descheemaeker’s leaked August 2023 email was sent in response to the announcement of an Indigenous cultural safety review at the university. MLS was “celebrating the ‘noble savage’”, he wrote in the email, likening the law school to an “ideological re-education camp”.
Descheemaeker wrote that there was “absolutely no end to where ‘Blak’ activists are meaning to take us – except destruction”.
Descheemaeker’s email did not name any academics.
The 2023 cultural safety review was commissioned weeks before Indigenous academic Dr Eddie Cubillo resigned from his role as an blockociate dean and senior fellow at MLS.
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After tendering his resignation in September 2023, Cubillo, a Larrakia, Wadjigan and Central Arrernte man and former Northern Territory discrimination commissioner, told Guardian Australia that MLS was the “most culturally unsafe place I’ve worked”.
In an email sent to MLS staff last month, Foster said “sensitive correspondence” from August 2023 had recently been posted on campus noticeboards and social media.
“I acknowledge that staff and students who read the notices may have been offended or upset by its contents,” Foster said in the email, viewed by Guardian Australia.
Foster said the university had taken immediate steps to remove the correspondence and was investigating how it came to be posted on campus.
“I affirm my steadfast commitment to supporting a diverse, multi-cultural and multi-faith community.”
She said she was committed to ensuring cultural safety at the MLS and supported the “important work under way in this regard”.
Last week, Descheemaeker’s lawyer said their client was unable to comment at this stage. The interlocutory application will be heard on 9 September.
