La Trobe University has suspended Roz Ward, the co-founder of anti-bullying program Safe Schools Coalition, after she called the Australian flag "racist" in a Facebook post.
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The move to stand down the controversial academic from her job at the university's Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society has been condemned by the National Tertiary Education Union, which accused the university of taking part in an "anti-intellectual, anti-democratic attack".
Ms Ward was called into a meeting with university management on Wednesday morning, and then received a letter confirming that she had been suspended from work for "engaging in misconduct".
Last week, Ms Ward posted a picture of the rainbow flag to her Facebook account along with the words "Now we just need to get rid of the racist Australian flag on top of state parliament and get a red one up there and my work is done".
Safe Schools, which promotes acceptance of LGBTI people, has been attacked by conservative MPs and Christian groups who have accused it of promoting "radical sexual experimentation" and "encouraging cross dressing".
Ms Ward has featured in a series of articles in News Corporation outlets, which have criticised her Marxist views.
NTEU Victorian Secretary, Dr Colin Long said the attack was part of a political and ideological campaign by "right wing ideologues" who did not agree with her views.
"That La Trobe University has apparently allowed itself to be cowed into participating in this anti-intellectual, anti-democratic attack reflects the dismal state of intellectual capacity at the senior management level in some Australian universities," he said.
"We are very concerned that La Trobe University management seem to think that political views should be a criterion for employment, as was the case in the Soviet Union."
He said that people should be allowed to say the Australian flag is racist.
"It is this kind of moral and intellectual cowardice and bullying that underlies the bullying and victimisation of young people of diverse genders and sexualities, against which Roz Ward has dedicated her professional life," he said.
On Friday, Ms Ward resigned from her advisory role with the state's LGBTI Taskforce Education Reference Committee due to the post.
The union is considering legal action against the university.
A La Trobe University spokesman told Fairfax Media the university was following its normal processes and would not make any further comment.
On social media, the We stand with Roz Ward Facebook page had attracted more than 1400 likes in a few hours on Wednesday night and a flurry of supportive messages, including from the Sydney University Student Representative Council, and the University of Queensland branch of the NTEU.
"This NTEU branch stands firmly against such modern-day witch-hunts and calls on La Trobe University management to publicly state their support for Roz's ongoing employment with Safe Schools Coalition," the Queensland motion stated.
Sydney University's SRC stated: "The Sydney University SRC stands in solidarity with Roz Ward against sustained personal attacks and harassment and recognises this as an attack on the Safe Schools program as a whole."
