A human resources professor claims he was sacked as part of a long-running campaign to oust "conservative academics" after he tweeted about Greta Thunberg.
Andrew Timming was dismissed six days after he had complained about the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia to Victoria’s anti-discrimination commission.
The professor says he was fired after disputing what he claimed was a "near-doubling" of his teaching workload.
An investigation was launched over his refusal to accept work directions and a week later he was found guilty of "serious misconduct" at a disciplinary meeting.
Andrew Timming was dismissed six days after he had complained about the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Australia to Victoria’s anti-discrimination commission
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The self-declared conservative and founding member of the Free Speech Union’s Australian chapter, says he has now appealed the dismissal to RMIT and the Fair Work Commission (FWC).
According to the professor, university chiefs have been attempting to oust the academic after his tweet went viral in December 2022.
He lodged a grievance last May alleging that RMIT had violated the university’s intellectual freedom policy by threatening disciplinary action over the tweet.
The row started after Timming responded to a social media dispute between Andrew Tate and environmental activist Greta Thunberg, where Thunberg ridiculed the size of Tate’s penis.
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In a tweet, the Professor said that "demeaning sexual jokes" appeared fair game when directed from women to men, but not the other way around.
"Maybe in retrospect it was controversial, but that’s neither here nor there," he told The Times.
"Academics have a right to be offensive and shocking. It’s part of our role. We’re encouraged by our universities to engage in public debate. It’s called impact.
"I decided to delete my Twitter account…thinking that would pacify the university and maybe keep my job. Obviously, it didn’t."
The row started after Timming responded to a social media dispute between Andrew Tate and environmental activist Greta Thunberg, where Thunberg ridicule the size of Tate’s penis
ReutersHe claims that the university then attempted to sack him on health grounds, standing him down for over four months, rejecting his position as a deputy dean and forcing him to abandon two research projects by withdrawing his Department of Defence security clearance.
In a document lodged with the FWC, RMIT says it took no "adverse action" against Professor Timming and that some of his allegations have already been examined in the FWC and elsewhere.
The document stated: "The respondent [RMIT] does not intend to address these matters in detail…as [they] have no bearing upon…the respondent’s decision to terminate the applicant’s employment.
"Even if the respondent contravened the Fair Work Act as alleged, which is expressly denied…reinstatement would not be appropriate given the total loss of trust and confidence between the parties."