A professor in Tennessee won!

[Bunmi fatoye-matory]

“A Tennessee professor just won $500,000 and his job back after being fired for reposting Charlie Kirk’s own words about gun deaths. Darren Michael, a tenured theater professor at Austin Peay State University, shared a screenshot of a headline quoting Kirk saying gun deaths were “unfortunately” worth it to protect the Second Amendment shortly after Kirk was assassinated in 2025. That was enough for administrators to paint him as callous and hostile, turning a basic critique of pro gun absolutism into a career threatening offense in the middle of a right wing outrage cycle.​

The university’s decision to terminate him triggered intense backlash and a looming legal fight over free speech and academic freedom. After months of pressure, APSU reversed course, agreeing to reinstate Michael, pay him $500,000 plus counseling costs, and admit it failed to follow proper procedures for firing a tenured professor. For a public institution that tried to dress up an ideological purge as a conduct issue, it is an expensive confession that punishing a faculty member for amplifying a politician’s own quote crosses a constitutional line.​

Michael’s victory is a warning to every school and agency that rushed to police how people talked about Kirk after his death. The case shows that using a conservative martyr as a speech shield is not just ugly culture war theater, it is a legal liability that can cost taxpayers real money. For educators and workers who lost jobs or faced investigations over their Kirk posts, this payout is a signal that the chill can be fought and that the First Amendment still has teeth even when the mob is screaming.”  FB posting 

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Beautifully written 

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