Plainly put Wake Forest University made a business decision when it decided to cut loose an athletic trainer over a social media post regarding the death of conservative provocateur Charlie Kirk.
That much seems obvious.
And school officials, whether you think them cowardly or prudent — two things can be true at once — are far from alone.
The road to the unemployment line is littered with similar examples as workers operating under the (mistaken) impression that freedom of speech, codified in no uncertain terms in the First Amendment, got canned for daring to exercise it.
But this one, whether it’s called a layoff, firing, mutual decision, termination, dismissal or resignation, matters more because what had been an intellectual exercise involving far away people and institutions is very local and hits uncomfortably close to home.
Like it or not, the debate is no longer theoretical.
A tipping point
It’s long been a traditional nicety, right or wrong, to not speak ill of the dead. And while it’s considered polite not to do so, it’s not illegal.
At least not yet.
But we’re inching closer.
A president of the United States has been repeatedly pressuring Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate political adversaries, gleefully watching while the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission threatens the broadcast licenses of networks that employ comedians who make fun of him and standing by while his supporters devote hours to tattling on other Americans for reposting Charlie Kirk’s own words on social media and/or being critical of the most divisive, hateful and inflammatory among them.
“We can’t delay any longer,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday in a message to “Pam” that lamented a lack of criminal charges at Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., former FBI Director James Comey and others. “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!”
A member of the U.S. House of Representatives — freshman Pat Harrigan, R-10th and a West Point grad — heeded the dog whistle last week.
Harrigan, a combat veteran who literally put his life on the line to defend the Constitution, posted on X that he contacted Wake Forest over an Instagram post made by a 20-something over Kirk’s death originally seen by maybe a dozen people.
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“I’ve contacted @WakeForest regarding these reports. If a staff member is openly celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk, it crosses every line of decency and professionalism,” Harrigan posted.
And this: “UPDATE: I’m happy to report that after I contacted @WakeForest, Bridget (Sullivan) has been FIRED for celebrating Charlie Kirk’s assassination.”
Doesn’t a sitting congressman have better things to do?
The fiscal cost of free speech
Harrigan is correct about one thing. Sullivan’s post wasn’t particularly in good taste. She definitely spoke ill of the dead.
If you missed it, she posted on Instagram lyrics from the musical “Chicago” that go like this: “He had it coming” and wrote “This audio is all I have to say about that.”
With North Carolina being a right-to-work state — and Wake Forest being a private institution — freedom of speech protections only go so far.
And after seeing the musings of an assistant athletics trainer go viral after attracting the attention of a member of Congress, following hours of hand-wringing, university officials, no matter how they spin it, seem to have made a damage-control decision informed by money.
It wasn’t a “firing,” either. The young woman targeted by the self-appointed thought police was smart enough to realize how this would end and came to a mutual decision with the university to leave.
A statement issued by the university afterward reads, “Bridget Sullivan is no longer at Wake Forest University. As a matter of policy, Wake Forest does not comment on personnel or employment matters.”
True. But the guess here is that Wake agreed to a generous severance including health care insurance. University officials, while protective of the brand, the school’s endowment and potentially millions in research funding, aren’t monsters.
They’ve no doubt been paying close attention to the goings on between the Trump administration and Harvard, Columbia, UCLA and any number of other institutions that comes down to freedom of speech and expression.
They’ve surely watched how fast ABC and CBS capitulated in firing late-night comics critical of the president and agreed to settle lawsuits in an attempt to take the heat off.
The TV networks also had to protect their economic interests tied up in mutli-million dollar mergers.
So viewed through that lens — and worries about the school’s reputation — the decision to part ways with a low-level employee almost makes sense.
At what cost, though?
Speaking ill of the dead, burning a flag or saying, “-I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.” may be in bad taste.
But it’s not illegal. Not yet.
Scott Sexton has been a bemused observer of daily life — and occasional thorn in the side of elected officials — in Winston-Salem since 2005. ssexton@wsjournal.com
336-727-7481 @scottsextonwsj
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