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Regulation prof at public college suspended for Charlie Kirk feedback; does that violate First Modification?
By Debra Cassens Weiss
September 18, 2025, 12:44 pm CDT
Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley College, the place he was shot and killed on Sept. 10. (Picture by Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Pictures)
On-line feedback in regards to the loss of life of political activist Charlie Kirk have led to the suspension of an assistant medical schooling professor on the College of Arkansas Little Rock William H. Bowen College of Regulation.
Felicia Department, who directs and teaches within the legislation faculty’s Low Earnings Taxpayer Clinic, was suspended with pay and will probably be investigated.
Department wrote on Fb that she “is not going to pull again from celebrating that an evil man died.” She additionally posted a meme exhibiting Ku Klux Klan members at a cross burning with a caption studying “Individuals mourning Charlie Kirk.”
Christina Drale, chancellor for the College of Arkansas at Little Rock, mentioned in an announcement that she helps the best to freedom of expression however “I oppose such violent rhetoric within the strongest of phrases. As educators we must always maintain ourselves to a better commonplace of conduct that values civil discourse, speaks clearly in regards to the risks of political violence, and that prioritizes a rigorous, fair-minded studying atmosphere. The postings I learn this morning don’t mirror this commonplace.”
Publications with protection embody Reuters, KATV, the Faculty Repair and KUAR.
Department started working on the legislation faculty in July. She wrote a number of Fb posts. Considered one of them learn, partially:
“It by no means fails. Individuals have come out caping for the satan that walked amongst us.
“Information flash Christians. The evil one isn’t one singular being. I’m going to want ya’ll to review a bit extra.
“So no. I cannot pull again from celebrating that an evil man died by the strategy he selected to embrace.
“Don’t inform individuals who have been focused by somebody like him really feel, how to not publish, how to not have fun that he can now not inflict his model of evil. ….
“You’re so fast to chastise, considering we’re merely celebrating a loss of life. We. Are. Not. As I posted yesterday—evil begets evil. He’s now not in a position to beget evil. That’s trigger celebre.”
Department went on to discuss with Kirk’s earlier statements defending gun rights. Kirk has has mentioned he thinks the Second Modification proper is price the price of, sadly, some gun deaths yearly.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee and Arkansas Lawyer Basic Tim Griffin have each known as for Department to be fired.
“The First Modification protects your proper to say what you need,” Griffin mentioned in a press launch. “It doesn’t, nevertheless, assure you the job you need, no matter what you say. The legislation faculty ought to terminate her instantly.”
Free speech specialists have a distinct take.
“As a public college, the College of Arkansas is certain by the First Modification, which protects speech some could discover deeply unpopular or offensive,” says Zach Greenberg, college authorized protection/scholar affiliation counsel on the Basis for Particular person Rights and Expression, in an announcement emailed to the ABA Journal.
“School at public universities can’t be punished for merely expressing private views exterior of labor, particularly on issues of public concern. We’re actively investigating this case and urge the college to uphold its constitutional obligations.
“There is no such thing as a ‘hate speech’ exception to the First Modification and there can’t be. The Supreme Courtroom has rejected the concept again and again as a result of ‘hate speech’ is inherently subjective. Any try and outline it dangers giving the federal government energy to silence views it dislikes.”
Yale Regulation College professor Keith E. Whittington, writing on the Chronicle of Larger Schooling, additionally says public faculties are constrained by the First Modification in how they’ll reply to calls for to punish staff for hateful and incendiary speech.
“It’s price clarifying that in america, constitutional protections for speech are expansive, a truth not at all times mirrored within the official statements from faculties,” Whittington writes. His article referred to a number of firings and different disciplinary measures taken in opposition to school professors earlier than the controversy over Department’s statements surfaced.
Mere advocacy for violence is mostly protected against legal prosecution by courts though incitement to imminent lawless actions and true threats are usually not, he says.
Turning to the applying of the First Modification to authorities staff, Whittington says professors and directors at public faculties “get pleasure from some vital constitutional protections in opposition to disciplinary motion by their authorities employer for his or her expressive exercise.”
Professors at public universities typically have higher First Modification safety than different authorities staff as a result of tutorial freedom has been acknowledged as a particular concern of the First Modification, he says. The protections are higher when professors communicate of their private capability than when talking to college students within the classroom.
“Given the particular nature of a professor’s duties to freely focus on controversial concepts, their distasteful and inflammatory speech is constitutionally tolerated. Professors who publicly celebrated Charlie Kirk’s loss of life ought to typically be immune from self-discipline,” he concludes.
Whittington nonetheless notes that universities are underneath extraordinary public strain and public confidence in them is “in a free fall.” If professors are seen as contributing to intolerance, the balancing carried out by courts requested to guard their freedom might change, he warns.
A Journal request for remark despatched to Department’s legislation faculty e-mail handle was returned as undeliverable. She didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark left on her legislation faculty voicemail.
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