Australia's leading law school has been hit with allegations of institutional racism after the resignation of Dr Eddie Cubillo from Associate Dean of Indigenous Programs.
Dr Eddie Cubillo, a Larrakia, Wadjigan and Central Arrernte man, left his position last week. Prior to his time at the University, he was the Northern Territory anti-discrimination commissioner and executive officer of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service.
In his time at the school, Dr Cubillo said he had to get the institution to do more on cultural safety
“They’re not listening and not taking action … there’s an exodus of staff because of the cultural safety issue.
“I’m not alone.”
Dr Cubillo said the institution needs an anti-racism body and a mandatory Indigenous legal subject.
“I don’t want to see my grandkids go through this bullshit,” he said.
He is now the only Indigenous academic out of the 126 at the law school.
Students impacted by the departure
Students of the law school put up posters around the CBD's university campus in solidarity with Dr Cubillo.
"The posters were intended to make noise – to disrupt," Melbourne Law School Indigenous student representative and Banjima woman Keshi Moore told NITV.
"We needed every person who walked those halls to confront the truth: Indigenous people are unsafe in this institution."
Students put up posters around Melbourne University
"We demanded that this moment be acknowledged, not just as an isolated incident, but as a symptom of the larger issue at hand," she said.
"We demand an institution that is safe and inclusive for Indigenous people, one that values their contributions and respects their perspectives. The posters are a call to overdue action."
"I am very much aware that Dr Cubillo is not the only academic who has endured this," Ms Moore said.
"Three other Indigenous staff members have left due to continual violations of their physical, emotional, and cultural health."
Ms Moore said the students are feeling the loss of Dr Cubillo deeply.
"He is not just an Indigenous academic but also a mentor, support figure, liaison officer, and career advisor," she said.
Dr Cubillo's speech silenced by 'legal issues'
Many of the posters plastered across the campus featured quotes from Dr Eddie Cullibo's Wingarra Djuraliyin Public Lecture at the University of Sydney's Law School on August 9.
The students told NITV that posters are being taken down by security.
One of Mr Cubillo's quotes from the lecture he delivered being put up around Melbourne University
While most Wingarra Djuraliyin lectures are uploaded online, Dr Cullibo's is noticeably absent from USYD's Youtube.
In a statement to NITV, USYD said they were aware on "ongoing legal issues" which prevented them from "publishing the recording of the lecture at this time".
Not the first racism-related resignation
Dr Cubillo's resignation comes at no surprise to his former colleague Associate Professor Amanda Porter, who was Senior Fellow of Indigenous Programs at the law school.
Porter said she is "exhausted" by the "number of legal academics who would rather send defamation notices or lodge formal complaints to HR than confront their own behaviour".
"There is a culture of defamation threats, complaints and racism within Australian law schools," she said.
"These complaints are nothing but manifestations of white fragility. They are usually based in disbelief, fear and an inability and unwillingness to confront the truth of their own behaviour.
"I believe these complaints and legal actions are actively pursued with the knowledge that there is an absence of First Nations representation in HR departments, not to mention an absence of basic racial literacy."
The Yuin woman said the responses typical of law schools are "inaction, cultural awareness training or a never-ending cycle of investigations and inquiries".
"It has never occurred to anyone to listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples?" she questioned.
"The response requires deep listening and reflection, not silencing through legal proceedings or, as we have seen at MLS, getting security to take the posters down."
Porter expressed her concern for First Nations students, saying many were leaving or deferring their studies because, like her, "the found the racism intolerable".
"Students come to law school to have an experience, just like anybody else. But they end up having to defer their studies, and take off semesters because they’re sick of the racism they’ve had to confront in the classroom," she said.
As for her colleague, Dr Cubillo, she said his survival at MLS is a "testament to his strength, level-headedness and courage".
'Smoke and mirrors'
While Dr Cubillo has stepped away from the Associate Dean position, he remains as Director of the Indigenous Law and Justice hub and an "underlying academic position" according to a University of Melbourne spokesperson.
The spokesperson said the school is "aware of and deeply concerned by the cultural safety issues he has raised" and it has been discussed at length between both parties.
"Those experiences have challenged us to consider what we are doing to address Indigenous cultural safety and to demonstrate that racism is not tolerated at the Melbourne Law School," they said.
"It is not acceptable that Indigenous staff and students have been made to feel unwelcome or under-valued."
In response, the Law School has commissioned "an Indigenous-led advisory firm to undertake an Indigenous cultural safety review". It is expected to deliver its report in early 2024.
Ms Blanden said this was something Dr Cubillo called for for over three years.
"This has continually fallen on deaf ears and we can now see at the eleventh hour, MLS racing to start this initiative," she said.
"It's always smoke and mirrors, never a genuine commitment or allyship at this sandstone university."
