Knox News: Another look at First Amendment Firing of UT Prof

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Tennessee chancellor fires assistant professor over Charlie Kirk comment

Keenan Thomas

Knoxville News Sentinel

March 18, 2026, 5:08 a.m. ET

Chancellor Donde Plowman has fired Tamar Shirinian, whose Facebook comment after the assassination of Charlie Kirk sparked outrage, but the University of Tennessee assistant professor isn't giving up her effort to get back into the classroom or her federal lawsuit.

 

Plowman's decision dated Feb. 11 was sent one day after Shirinian added top UT officials and members of the UT System Board of Trustees to her lawsuit.

"After thoughtful deliberation, I conclude that your employment should be terminated for misconduct, namely the reputational harm you caused the University and the safety risk you created and continue to create," Plowman said in her letter, which was included as evidence in the lawsuit, along with Shirinian's reply.

 

Plowman said the assistant professor of cultural anthropology "failed to meet" expectations laid out in the UT faculty handbook, including mutual respect for colleagues, respecting other people's opinions and acting as a UT representative to the wider community. She said if Shirinian's Facebook reply was a political opinion or part of a debate, Plowman's perspective would be different. But instead she said Shirinian's comment "celebrated a gruesome murder."

After Kirk was assassinated, Shirinian wrote, in part, the "world is better off without (Kirk) in it" and referred to his wife Erika Kirk as a "sick f---" for marrying him.

 

“The antagonizing tenor of your words makes you a target for potential retributive violence that could put our students and faculty in harm’s way, as well as irreparably damage the public’s trust in our University," Plowman said. "I have a responsibility to minimize any such risks.”

At the end of her letter, Plowman said she regretted the decision was "necessary," and she hopes Shirinian's academic career "will recover from this misstep."

 

Shirinian responded to the letter Feb. 24, requesting to appeal her firing with a trial under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act. This involves an administrative judge — appointed by Plowman, per UT policy — to decide Shirinian's fate.

Shirinian pushed back on the "retributive violence" claim by saying no threats have been provided as evidence and that UT should protect her and the campus in case of a threat instead of preemptively firing her. She questioned why Plowman invited Shirinian into her office if the chancellor had concerns the professor's presence could be dangerous.

 

“Previous extremely inflammatory statements by faculty members have been seen as 'protected' even when they directly advocated for violence. My comment did no such thing," Shirinian said. "You know as well as I do that my termination is a result of political pressure that you experience. My termination is viewpoint discrimination as well as political retaliation and the University’s ‘reputation’ in no way legally constitutes property that I damaged.”

 

As she awaits the next steps, Shirinian has "major concerns with the process going forward" as Plowman has shown "a lack of care for actual process" by not following the firing procedures laid out in UT policies. Provost John Zomchick is supposed to handle situations involving discipline for tenured or tenure-track faculty members.

"I am still putting my hopes in this process as it is the only option made available to me in a Faculty Handbook that has now been stripped almost entirely of meaning," Shirinian said in her letter.

The federal trial is schedule for early 2027.

 

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Keenan Thomas is the higher education reporter for Knox News. Email: keenan...@knoxnews.com.

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