Americans are watching in disbelief as universities and public institutions rush to fire or discipline staff for private social media comments about the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk. What began as a wave of emotion has metastasized into a campaign of punishment led by politicians and online mobs who demand instant, public consecration of one political viewpoint. This is not about decency or safety — it’s about forcing political conformity and using the power of the state to silence dissenting voices.
At the University of South Dakota a tenured professor, Michael Hook, was put on leave and faced termination after a Facebook post calling Kirk a “hate spreading Nazi,” and he has since moved to challenge the administration in court to protect his free speech rights. The fact that a tenured faculty member had to seek a temporary restraining order to block his firing is a chilling reminder that tenure is only as strong as political winds allow. Universities should be sanctuaries of debate, not kangaroo courts that bow to partisan pressure from state politicians and influencers.
Iowa State University also terminated an employee after a social media comment celebrating Kirk’s death drew attention from conservatives online and the state’s Board of Regents opened investigations into faculty posts. When public employees lose their jobs for expressing outrage — however tasteless or callous — it creates a terrifying precedent that speech will be judged more by which political team is angry than by any neutral standard of misconduct. If free speech only exists for those on the favored side of campus politics, then it is not free at all.
Other institutions, including Austin Peay State University and the University of Mississippi, have similarly announced firings or disciplinary actions tied to remarks about Kirk’s assassination, often citing institutional values rather than any clear policy violation. These opaque decisions let administrators paper over politically motivated purges with bland talk about “mutual respect” and “dignity,” while quietly bowing to governors and partisan outrage machines. The result is predictable: a conservative professor or staffer who speaks frankly risks professional annihilation while activists on the other side are often shielded.
Conservative Americans should be furious but strategic. This is not merely one-off cancel culture; it’s a coordinated use of public power to regulate political expression in government-funded institutions. That means political pushback, legal challenges, and targeted campaigning are required to restore balance and defend the First Amendment for all citizens, not just the ones deemed fashionable by the media. Administrative overreach must be met with lawyers, voters, and common-sense reforms.
State lawmakers and conservative attorneys should prioritize clear statutory protections for faculty speech and for due process before termination, and governors who applaud these firings must be held accountable by voters. If tenure and public employment can be stripped at the whim of a trending hashtag, then the next target could be any of us who dare speak in defense of conservative principles. This is an opportunity for conservatives to translate outrage into durable policy wins that protect speech on campus.
Finally, patriotic Americans should see this for what it is: a fight over who controls our public institutions and the narratives our children are taught. We must defend the right to disagree, even when it is uncomfortable, and reject the weaponization of personnel offices into political purge squads. The universities that bow to this pressure will not only betray their mission; they will lose the trust of families that still believe in open inquiry and honest debate.
