Image Credit: Sen. Marsha Blackburn / Facebook & LinkedIn
Tennessee Conservative News [By Paula Gomes] –
Republican nominee for Tennessee Governor and current United States Senator Marsha Blackburn is being sued by a fired and later reinstated Austin Peay State University (APSU) professor.
Darren Michael, an associate professor of acting and directing, was initially fired by APSU last September for sharing a degrading social media post about the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
Michael was later reinstated and suspended pending termination when university administration admitted it had not followed proper procedures for firing tenured staff and by the end of 2025 he was fully reinstated to his position within APSU.
At the beginning of the year, APSU announced they would be paying half a million dollars to Michael as part of a settlement agreement.
According to the settlement, the Clarksville university agreed to issue a statement that acknowledged regret for not following tenure termination processes and distributing it to faculty, staff and students.
Michael claims that Blackburn used her position as senator to pressure APSU to fire him over his social media post about Kirk, unlawfully suppressing his First Amendment rights.
The suit alleges that Blackburn’s actions placed Michael and his family in severe emotional distress and fear for their physical safety and demands a trial by jury.
Michael is seeking a declaration that Blackburn violated his constitutional rights regarding the First and Fourteenth amendments as well as Injunctive Relief that would prevent further retaliation or interference in his employment status at APSU.
The lawsuit also requests that Michael be compensated for lost employment benefits and wages, expenses for medical and counselling services, damages for emotional distress and mental anguish, reputational harm, as well as other economic and non-economic damages as the result for Blackburn’s conduct.
A spokesperson for Blackburn’s press office said that the suit was “meritless” and that Blackburn’s criticism of outrageous public statements following Kirk’s death was protected speech.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
6 Responses
Blackburn’s criticism of “outrageous public statements” may be protected speech, but using her political power to get someone fired for HIS protected speech goes way beyond the pale. I hope Darren Michael wins.
I’m old enough to remember the political hits by Obama and Biden, firing people who didn’t fall in line. Your typical Leftist hypocrisy is always showing!
It’s going to be interesting if a professor makes Pro Life comments and is fired. This should be a wake up call to parents about who is indoctrinating your children…while paying the crazy tuitions.
So these universities don’t have a Moral Turpitude clauses in their contracts? Funny how Freedom of Speech only applies to one side…
“Education” is terminally infested with lucifer’s accursed dimmercrap pukes like him who’re indoctrinating immature minds.
Senator Blackburn was obviously pushing the narrative of the foreign country she has taken a lot of money from. https://www.trackaipac.com/states/tennessee?rq=blackburn
One must remember that free speech is not always without consequences. If you call your boss a fat pig he can fire you. You can say it but he can fire you. If you yell “fire” in a movie theater there are consequences. So yes we can say what we want but at times there will be consequences. As an educator and supposed example for children making horrible statements as this guy did in my book is reason to be fired BUT they messed up and went about it the wrong way. How much influence Blackburn had is to be seen and I agree she should have kept her nose out of it. Now he will take full advantage to soak as much cash out of this situation as he can….and at the end of the day who picks up the tab?