An Australian student activist has settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the University of Queensland following his suspension over his political activism on campus against the Chinese Communist Party.
Drew Pavlou, 24, lodged the legal action in June 2020 against UQ Chancellor Peter Varghese and then-Vice Chancellor Peter Hoj, alleging they committed acts of “deceit, conspiracy, harassment, defamation [and] breach of contract.”
The lawsuit came after the UQ decided to suspend the student over allegations he had breached the university code of conduct.
However, the human rights activist decided to drop the case after UQ offered to pay $120,000 to grant law scholarships to disadvantaged students. The court found no liability and damages were not ordered.
“Although the university was always confident of its position, the parties have agreed to resolve the proceedings, which were commenced by Mr. Pavlou in June 2020, without any admission of liability,” said a UQ spokesperson on March 28.
Mr. Pavlou’s two-year suspension from completing his philosophy degree was cut short to six months, but he said he didn’t receive any compensation despite previously seeking $3.5 million in damages. He has returned to study law at the university.
‘'I always said that my Supreme Court lawsuit was not about money. I always promised that I would drop my lawsuit if UQ simply apologised and admitted that I was wronged,” Mr. Pavlou told AAP.
Alleged Of Student Misconduct Following Criticism Of CCP’s Influence
Mr. Pavlou previously alleged that the elite university had used misconduct proceedings to silence his criticism of CCP propaganda on campus, including the Confucius Institute.
The student activist was also the organiser of a pro-Hong Kong protest in July, 2019, which saw pro-Beijing students disrupting the protest and harassing pro-democracy students.
Of the charges laid by UQ against him, the activist said they had “mixed my activism for Hong Kong, and my criticism of the CCP, with more mundane stuff.”
Prior to filing the lawsuit in 2020, Mr. Pavlou appealed a decision by UQ’s disciplinary board to ban him from studying at the university for two years.
At the time, Mr. Varghese said Mr. Pavlou remained an enrolled student, with no action being taken on his suspension while the appeal was being heard.
“UQ tried to expel me because I protested against UQ’s immoral economic ties with the Chinese Communist Party … now I’m back on campus studying law,” Mr. Pavlou said.
In a post on X (formally Twitter), he said:
“Cry about it Peter Høj and Peter Varghese, you wanted to expel me for protesting CCP human rights abuses, you failed, and now you have to pay $120,000 to establish law scholarships for disadvantaged students.”
The UQ student’s legal battle previously attracted support from high-profile Australian High Commissioner to the UK George Brandis, who studied at UQ.
In 2022, Mr. Pavlou was arrested in the UK as he was protesting over Beijing’s oppression of its Uyghur minority outside the Chinese embassy in central London.
The Metropolitan police made the arrest after the Chinese embassy told them it had received a bomb threat email from an account: [email protected], which Mr. Pavlou said was “absurd.”
“This is Drew Pavlou, you have until 12pm to stop the Uyghur genocide or I blow up the embassy with a bomb. Regards, Drew,” the email said.
Mr. Pavlou said the account was fake and that the email was made up by the embassy in an attempt to have him arrested.
AAP contributed to this report.
