re: Professor receives $500k and reinstatement for Charlie Kirk online post firing.

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A public university is considered a government entity under the First Amendment. Pretty sure Austin Peay is public, not private.

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Correct. This affords the employee more protections, but not unlimited. This argument has been made 100's of times often making it to tSCOTUS. It often boils down to if the statement or action was done in an official role or as a private citizen, and if as a private citizen did it violate conditions of employment which would equate to breech of employment contract and not be a 1st amendment violation.

For those who don’t know, this is what he reposted…

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Michael shared an article titled, “Charlie Kirk says gun deaths are ‘unfortunately’ worth it to keep 2nd Amendment.”

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No. Read what he first posted. He was wrong. The school is the govt. Doesn't mean employees have unfettered free speech. It also is clear that they do have some 1st amendment protections as their employer is, in fact, the govt. The firing was unjustified and they opted to pay a sizable sum out of court.

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Not particularly rustled.

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Correct. Progressives protect their own. Always have, always will. The move vile, the more they are adored. They always fall forward, especially those protected by academia.

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No. Read what he first posted. He was wrong.

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I think you cast a very broad stroke over what I said and how you interpreted it, just as the poster you are responding to did. I never sad Austin Peay was not a public institution, nor that those employed by the University were not public employees. I only stated that the protections afforded by the 1st amendment are extended to citizens against the government and not an employer (be that private or public). Nowhere did I say AP was a private institution, nor that it was not considered a government entity. An employee or student at a public institution is not afforded full immunity via the 1st amendment, this has been tried and precedents set. They are afforded more than at a private institution but not full. There is also a significant difference between government violating constitutional rights (imprisonment, fines, etc.) and a government employee being terminated, while both are infringements they are obviously different levels.

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The firing was unjustified

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Yes, it was, but the firing wasn't ruled unjustified due to 1st amendment violations. It was unjustified based on what I have seen due to the university's failure to adhere to their own written tenured termination review and policies. I think they violated his free speech, especially as he carried it out, but from what I have read that was not what influenced this decision.

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But you’re not going to be able to rightfully fire someone for simply re-sharing a major media outlet (Newsweek) article in a social media post that is quoting the deceased’s own quotes. He wasn’t inciting violence with his post.

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That would have come out if the university had followed its required termination protocols instead of firing him and making public statements on his termination before backtracking to actually attempt to follow their termination policies. That is what the settlement and apology are specifically about.

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Moral of the story is professors are often progressives and most progressives are bad human beings, like this guy is.

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Pretty sure that isn't the moral of the story.

Just shows the power level difference between the left and right in the US.

Can you imagine a University firing a professor that essentially blamed George Floyd for his own death, then got rehired and a $500,000 check for it.

We are talking about 1000x power difference.

I bet Broadway and Hollywood are breathing a big sigh of relief, since so many famous actors and actresses come from the stewardship of this professor, who is back walking the esteemed halls of Austin Peay’s acting school.

liberals love wasting tax dollars