Dozens of teachers and professors at K-12 schools, colleges and universities nationwide were dismissed after making remarks on the fatal Sept. 10 shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Some of them brought federal lawsuits that contested their dismissal, which they assert was for tweets on their personal social media accounts.
In the lawsuits, which ABC News has obtained, both teachers claim their First Amendment freedom of speech was violated.
In South Carolina, Lauren Vaughn, a former teacher’s aide, has sued the Spartanburg County School District Five, the board and superintendent in federal court.
It followed that she was supposedly let go over a post where she posted Kirk’s own words at a Turning Point USA event where he asserted that it’s “worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year,” in order to be able to bear arms. She then attacked his Second Amendment beliefs, the suit claims.
“We have been served the lawsuit, but have no comment on ongoing litigation,” a school district representative said Tuesday in a statement to ABC News.
A former Iowa educator, Matthew Kargol, is suing Oskaloosa Schools and its superintendent for allegedly firing him for posting “1 Nazi down” after Kirk was shot and killed, according to the lawsuit.
“Mr. Kargol’s statement was rhetorical hyperbole regarding a publicized incident which received extensive media coverage. It did not threaten an individual, did not constitute a call to imminent unlawful action, and was not directed to a school member,” the lawsuit states.
A spokesperson for the school district verified Kargol’s termination in a statement received by ABC News on Tuesday, stating it was “addressed in accordance with applicable federal and state law and Board policy.”
At the same time, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Indiana brought a federal lawsuit on Monday on behalf of one former Ball State University worker. She was reportedly terminated because of a post where she said Kirk’s death is a tragedy but that it is also a “reflection of the violence, fear, and hatred he sowed,” the complaint said.
“While this is obviously an opinion on a contentious issue, it is completely covered by the First Amendment,” the complaint claims.
Ball State University responded Sept. 17 in a statement that the post “created substantial disruption to the University” and the termination decision was “in line with recent case law.”
ABC News’ requests for comment were not answered by Ball State University when asked regarding the lawsuit.
The suits follow as dozens of teachers and staff members in K-12 schools, colleges and universities throughout the United States report that they have been terminated from their jobs for comments made in public about Kirk and his murder.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten criticized the dismissals in a statement on Friday. She stated, among other things, that “acts of violence and hate must be condemned,” but “employing this tragedy to promote the doxxing, censorship, and firing of individuals for their views – including teachers’ personal views expressed during their own time – is wrong.”
The layoffs are in response to public pressure from certain politicians and public officials, mostly in red states, on institutions of higher learning and schools to punish students and terminate employees for social media posts about Kirk. Some posts seemed heartless following his death, while others seemed to rejoice in his assassination, school administrators say.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden welcomed the state Board Of Regents decision to sack a University of South Dakota professor. In their Facebook posts, they supposedly labeled Kirk as a “hate-spreading Nazi” and asked where all the “concern” was when Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband were murdered in Minnesota.
“We need more Charlie Kirks on campus and less hatred like this,” Rhoden wrote on Facebook.
Nico Perrino, the executive vice president of the nonprofit civil rights organization Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) replied to Rhoden’s post in a “X” message.
“We’re now summarily dismissing public university professors, free speech and due process be damned,” Perrino wrote. “I haven’t seen anything like it since the summer of ’20. And even then, I don’t recall so many governors and lieutenant governors making such unconstitutional purges publicly.”
Clemson University in South Carolina last week announced that two professors and one staff member were fired for “inappropriate social media content” over Kirk’s assassination.
Prior to the announcement, Republican state Rep. Jordan Pace urged Clemson to terminate the employees and stated that Clemson would be defunded if it did not do so.
“Each of these deliberations represents the university’s strong commitment to do everything by strict adherence to institutional policies, state and federal regulations and the bedrock principles of due process,” the university explained in a Sept. 16 statement announcing the dismissals.
In Tennessee, Austin Peay State University, Middle Tennessee State University and Cumberland University employees were also terminated for social media posts dealing with Kirk’s death.
Austin Peay State University President Mike Licari has announced that a theater professor was fired for reposting “a social media post that was insensitive, disrespectful and was interpreted by many as promoting justification for illegal death,” ABC affiliate in Nashville, WZTV, reported.
Middle Tennessee State University President Sidney McPhee also announced the termination of an assistant dean, who posted on social media that she has “zero sympathy” for Kirk’s murder, WZTV reported.
Tennessee Sen. Marsha Balckburn, a Republican, re-posted the dean’s message on X and demanded her termination.
And at Cumberland University, a private liberal arts college in Lebanon, Tennessee, President Paul C. Stumb announced on Sept. 12 that a faculty member and a staff member were terminated for posting “inappropriate comments on the internet” regarding Kirk’s assassination.
On Sept. 11, a day after Kirk was killed, Mississippi State University Chancellor Glenn F. Boyce announced that an employee who made “hurtful, insensitive things on social media” about the tragic loss of Kirk is no longer working at the university.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who requested and encouraged the dismissal of a Texas State University student who ridiculed Kirk mourners in a video that went viral, stated that the Texas Education Agency will be investigating teachers’ behavior and acting on it.
And in Alabama, Superintendent Eric Mackey lamented in a letter his disappointment with what he termed “inappropriate, reprehensible, and inexcusable” social media messages by teachers and stated the behavior will be “thoroughly reviewed and investigated,” ABC’s Birmingham affiliate, WBMA, said.
In the statement, Mackey recognized teachers’ freedom of speech, but stated that they “occupy a special place in our society” — the task of teaching children — and he “will not stand for a small minority of actors to devalue our calling or shame our profession.”
On Sept. 17, Education Secretary Linda McMahon shared a video on X criticizing teachers and professors who celebrated Kirk’s death.
McMahon said it is “deeply troubling” that a small but “vocal” fringe is justifying Kirk’s murder.
“Alarmingly, too, many of these proponents of political violence are teachers, professors and administrators at our schools and colleges, influencers who are given the authority to mold the character of the next generation and the concepts that touch us all,” McMahon stated in the post. “This is additional evidence of the deep-seated crisis in our schools and on our campuses.”
McMahon did not cite free speech.
