Professor in court fight over Charlie Kirk post is temporarily reinstated
A federal court on Wednesday temporarily reinstated a University of South Dakota professor who was put on administrative leave after making negative comments on social media about Charlie Kirk on the same day that the conservative activist was shot.
The U.S. District Court in South Dakota’s Southern Division said the university should also pause actions aimed at terminating Phillip Michael Hook, a tenured art professor at the university, for his Facebook post on Sept. 10 that described Kirk as a “hate spreading Nazi.”
“I’m sorry for his family that he was a hate spreading Nazi and got killed. I’m sure they deserved better,” Hook wrote. He also questioned why there wasn’t more concern over the shooting death of Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband.
In a subsequent post on the same day, Hook said that he had removed the earlier post and apologized “to those who were offended.”
Kirk, a key ally of President Donald Trump and founder of the influential young conservatives group Turning Point USA, was fatally shot during a campus event at Utah Valley University. A rash of companies and institutions have fired or suspended employees this month over comments about Kirk’s killing.
Hook’s remarks triggered angry reactions from South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden (R) and South Dakota Speaker of the House Jon Hansen (R). The school and South Dakota’s Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s public universities, said they had received “hundreds of calls and message[s] … calling for the removal of Professor Hook.”
At around the same time, Hook received a letter from Bruce Kelley, the dean of the university’s College of Fine Arts, notifying him of the school’s intent to put him on administrative leave and to terminate him, citing his post on Kirk.
Hook filed a lawsuit this week asking courts to temporarily suspend the university’s actions, asserting that the moves amounted to an unconstitutional retaliation against political speech and a violation of the First Amendment.
U.S. Judge Karen E. Schreier said that although Hook is an employee of a public institution, his post was made as a private citizen about a matter of public concern, referring to how Hook had written the post while he was at home and off work, making it protected speech.
The university will be “required to temporarily set aside their determination to place Hook on administrative leave” and “reinstate Hook’s position as a professor of art at the University of South Dakota” until at least Oct. 8, the date of a court hearing on the case, according to Schreier’s decision.
Hook and the South Dakota Board of Regents could not be immediately reached for comment. A group of student supporters has circulated an online petition urging state officials to reinstate the professor. The petition has attracted thousands of signatures.
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