Image Credit: Charlie Kirk / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
More professors across the state are under investigation for callous remarks they made online following the assassination of Charlie Kirk last week.
East Tennessee State University (ETSU) President Brian Noland has placed two tenured professors on administrative leave over social media comments they made following Kirk’s untimely death.
One of the professors allegedly wrote, “This isn’t a tragedy. It’s a victory,” while the other stated, “you reap what you sow.”
Calling the messages “deeply troubling and concerning,” Noland suspended Russell Brown and Andrew Herrmann after reviewing university policy and ETSU’s faculty handbook in order to conduct a review of their actions.
While ETSU does not have a social media policy in place for employees, there is a code of conduct.
Noland has said that there is no specific time frame in which the review must be completed. The public is calling for the pair to be fired.
University of Tennessee in Knoxville (UTK) will be facing the same outraged public as word spreads about their Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology Tamar Shirinian.
In replying to someone’s post about Kirk, Shirinian wrote, “The world is better off without him in it. Even those who are claiming to be sad for his wife and kids… like, his kids are better off living in a world without a disgusting psychopath like him and his wife, well, she’s a sick f*** for marrying him so I don’t care about her feelings.”
Shirinian’s research specialities include queer anthropology, queer theory, feminist theory, feminist anthropology, transnational feminisms, kinship studies, socialism and postsocialism.
In her UTK bio, Shirinian writes that one of her areas of study is “right-wing nationalist movements, and the links these formations have within geopolitics.”
The Vol State administration is also being asked about the status of an investigation into a female English/Creative Writing professor who praised the assassination of Charlie Kirk during one of her classes. An official statement has yet to be released by the community college.
Several university employees have already lost their jobs after posting heartless comments publicly about Kirk.
“Looks like ol’ Charlie spoke his fate into existence. Hate begets hate. ZERO sympathy,” wrote Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) Assistant Dean of Students Laura Sosh-Lightsy on Facebook. She was promptly fired.
In a follow-up statement on Thursday, MTSU President Sidney McPhee stated, “At MTSU, we take great pride in a campus that is truly a marketplace of ideas. We respect and value differences of opinion and freedom of expression. In fact this week MTSU was named one of the top 15 universities in the nation for its commitment to free speech by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.”
McPhee went on to say that Sosh-Lightsy’s “callous and insensitive comments” were the opposite of what the university expected from a staff member representing MTSU.
In her role, Sosh-Lightsy was required to be “fair and even-handed, a professional without agendas.”
In summing up, McPhee wrote, “Speech can have consequences and her thoughtlessness and lack of empathy mean that no one walking into her office can see her as an objective arbiter of facts.”
Theatre Professor Darren Michael was likewise dismissed by Austin Peay State University (APSU) for resharing an insensitive social media post. APSU President Mike Licari said that many interpreted Michael’s action as “propagating justification for unlawful death.”
Michael had worked at APSU for almost two decades.
“Such actions do not align with Austin Peay’s commitment to mutual respect and human dignity,” wrote Licari in an official statement. “The university deems these actions unacceptable and has terminated the faculty member.”
Cumberland University (CU) also announced on Friday that two employees, a faculty member and an assistant eSports coach were no longer employed by the university following public outcry.
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5 Responses
Investigations are being launched against people for “callous” remarks? I can understand investigating speech that incites violence, but who gets to decide what’s “callous” and what isn’t? When asked about mass shootings, Charlie Kirk said, “I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.” But NOW, when someone draw attention to that SAME QUOTE, people scream about it being “callous.” People are losing their jobs over opinions they express on their own time. Is this the kind of police state you really want?
The First Amendment guarantees the right to free speech. There is however consequences for something that you say, that may not align with your employer’s values and standards. I wouldn’t want my children anywhere near these people. Good riddance!
Don’t assume these crackdowns on freedom of expression could never affect YOU.
“Hate speech does not exist legally in America. There’s ugly speech. There’s gross speech. There’s evil speech. And ALL of it is protected by the First Amendment. Keep America free.” -Social media post by Charlie Kirk
“Education” is terminally infested with lucifer’s vile accursed dimmercraps. They should be banned from “working” their evil in TN.