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.

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".