Student treated 'like a paedophile'

Student treated 'like a paedophile'

A Queensland PhD student criticised for creating a video about the disabled says he was made to feel "like a paedophile" by two academics who criticised the project.

Queensland University of Technology lecturers Dr Gary MacLennan and Dr John Hookham were suspended without pay for six months - at a personal cost of more than $40,000 - following their public criticism of the work of PhD candidate Michael Noonan.

The pair have appealed the sentence handed down by QUT vice-chancellor Peter Coaldrake.


In the Federal Court in Brisbane today the university agreed to reinstate the academics' wages pending a three day trial set down to start October 22.

If the pair fail in their bid to have the university-imposed sentence declared null and void, they will have to repay the money paid between now and the trial.

The court heard that after seeing the project, then titled Laughing at the Disabled, Dr MacLennan, whose son has a disability, took exception to its content.

"I have a handicapped child and I pray to God that my child never comes into contact with someone like you," Dr MacLennan is alleged to have said of Mr Noonan.

The court heard Mr Noonan was so offended by the remark he felt as though he was being treated "like a paedophile".

The video, now renamed Laughing with the Disabled, features a series of sketches based around two disabled men, one with Asperger's syndrome and the other with a learning disability.

Mr Noonan argues the piece is a study into the nature of offensive comedy and how program-makers deal with confronting issues, comparing it to the likes of Borat and The Chaser's War on Everything.

However, in The Australian newspaper's higher education supplement in April, Dr MacLennan and Dr Hookham were highly critical of the project, which they labelled "morally wrong".

Their comments sparked a complaint to Professor Coaldrake, who established a three-person committee to investigate the charge.

The committee anonymously upheld the charge, prompting the vice-chancellor's decision to suspend the pair.

Supporters of the lecturers argue they have been unfairly treated for simply criticising an academic work.

In court today, the judge hearing the case, Justice Jeffrey Spender, said the case would have a significant impact on universities.

"I regard this as a very important case which will address the nature of a university and what a university ought to be all about," he said.


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