A professor facing attempted termination after claiming in a publicly leaked email that “‘Blak’ activists” were aiming to lead the University of Melbourne’s prestigious law school to “destruction” has reached a settlement with the institution.
The university tried to sack Dr Eric Descheemaeker after a 2023 email to the then-dean of Melbourne law school (MLS), in which he claimed it was turning into an “ideological re-education camp”, was leaked and posted around the Parkville campus last year.
Descheemaeker then sued the university for discrimination, alleging the attempt to expel him in July was because of his political opinion.
The case was due to be heard at a trial in the federal circuit and family court next month. But sources have told Guardian Australia the legal dispute has been settled, with an announcement to be made in the coming weeks.
Court records show the case was finalised and dismissed with the consent of the parties in November.
The university did not respond to questions from Guardian Australia about the settlement and whether Descheemaeker was still employed at MLS.
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In a statement, a spokesperson for the university confirmed the federal circuit and family court had dismissed the proceedings brought by Descheemaeker.
“The University cannot make any further comment at this time,” the spokesperson said.
The university tried to dismiss Descheemaeker after the email, sent in response to the announcement of a cultural safety review at the university, was leaked. In the email, Descheemaeker said MLS was “celebrating the ‘noble savage’” and likened it to an “ideological re-education camp”.
He wrote that there was “absolutely no end to where ‘Blak’ activists are meaning to take us – except destruction”.
Descheemaeker alleged the University of Melbourne had taken adverse action against him by suspending his employment due to his “political opinion”, court documents show.
In a court hearing last September, Descheemaeker’s legal team argued the university had attempted to expel him over his political expression after it unearthed allegedly racist emails, the court heard.
Descheemaeker’s barrister, Dimitri Ternovski, said the professor’s comments in the emails were political opinions and were not racist. He said his client’s correspondence was protected by the university’s academic freedom of expression policy.
Ternovski said the leaked August 2023 email used “colourful language” to push back against “identity politics” increasingly being injected into MLS’s curriculum and was meant only for the dean’s eyes.
Only a small part of the university’s defence was heard in September as both sides agreed to an adjournment.
Marc Felman KC, representing the university, said there was no prima facie case that Descheemaeker’s proposed dismissal was unlawful. He described the case as “hopeless”.
The university commissioned the cultural safety review in 2023 – the same year Indigenous academic Dr Eddie Cubillo resigned from his role as an associate dean and senior fellow at MLS after public complaints over institutional racism at the faculty.
