CONWAY — A Coastal Carolina University employee has been fired and another suspended without pay for social media posts they made and shared about the assassination of conservative activist and podcaster Charlie Kirk.
Coastal officials confirmed the decisions on Sept. 16 but declined to release the names of those employees. The decision followed mounting pressure from local lawmakers.
“CCU is committed to upholding our institutional values as we continue to pursue our core mission of supporting student success with the highest standards of integrity and accountability,” Coastal wrote in a prepared statement.
Kirk, 31, was shot and killed Sept. 10 as he engaged in a debate during an outdoor speaking event at Utah Valley University. Authorities charged 22-year-old Tyler Robinson with his murder.
In the aftermath, school officials across the country moved quickly to fire employees for posts that some view as celebrating the assassination. Clemson University fired two professors and a staff member. A Greenville teacher was also fired.
In some cases, the decisions came amid demands from lawmakers.
Coastal faced similar pressure from state Rep. Heather Crawford, R-Socastee, and U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-Charleston. Crawford and Mace accused Coastal employees of sharing posts that they contend showed support for the shooting.
One of the Coastal employees allegedly shared a post to her Facebook story that said, “The controversy isn’t about being ‘politically incorrect,’ ‘having a difference of opinion,’ or, ‘preaching the Gospel.’ It is about repeating bigoted ideas on a stage that reached tens of millions,” according to a screenshot shared on social media.
Kirk’s allies, including the conservative commentary account Libs of TikTok, argued the post was suggesting Kirk was asking for it due to his “bigoted ideas.”
Crawford cited that post as a reason for Coastal to follow Clemson’s lead.
“Clemson fires professor over social media posts,” she wrote on Facebook on Sept. 15, sharing a news story about the firing. “It’s a start but we have a long way to go. Looking at you, Coastal Carolina University.”
A second employee publicly shared a post calling Mace a “two-faced (expletive)” and wrote, “But with how much she loves throwing slurs around on the Congress floor she might not be too far behind,” adding a crossing-fingers emoji, according to a screenshot of the post.
That employee also publicly shared a post on Facebook that stated, “There will never be another Charlie Kirk…Thank god.”
The individuals identified by the lawmakers could not be reached for comment.
State Attorney General Alan Wilson has argued universities have a legal right to fire employees for certain types of public statements.
“The First Amendment protects freedom of speech, but it does not shield threats, glorification of violence, or behavior that undermines the mission of our state institutions,” Wilson said in a news release. “Clemson, and any state university in South Carolina, should not be paralyzed by fear of prosecution when dealing with employees who publicly endorse political violence.”
Jay Bender, who has practiced media law in South Carolina for more than 40 years, said he has been disappointed by many of the calls for firing in the aftermath of Kirk’s death, referring to it as “absurdist, theatrical politics.”
“The law is pretty clear that a state institution cannot fire an employee for what the employee has posted on social media unless that post incites imminent violence,” Bender said. “The notion that you can be fired from your public employment for criticizing a controversial public figure seems to me to be a clear violation of the First Amendment and 14th Amendment.”