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Former MTSU admin files free speech lawsuit after firing over comments on Charlie Kirk assassination
WSMV ^ | 11/7/2025 | Chasity Maynard

Posted on 11/15/2025 9:50:32 AM PST by simpson96

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To: jimwatx

She isn’t being silenced at all. She simply can’t say anything she wants that the school doesn’t like as long as she works there. She’s still free to hang out on the street corner and scream Nazi all she wants or go to bluepedo and say what she wants. For that matter she can walk up to DJT and call him a Nazi if she wants. Her speech isn’t being silenced. She’s not being allowed to embarrass her employer.


41 posted on 11/15/2025 12:25:36 PM PST by ChuckHam
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To: simpson96

Looks like a LinkedIn page. She has 3 connections, next to no one likes her, or wants to be associated with her. No surprise.

42 posted on 11/15/2025 12:53:51 PM PST by DAC21
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To: sunny bonobo

“I think she might have a case if the school gets any federal funding.”

She was fired by Middle Tennessee *State* University. I’m not a lawyer, either, but this is my (layman’s) understanding of the relevant issues. First Amendment protections *generally* extend to state government employees as long as the speech pertains to “matters of public concern” and does not involve either workplace grievences or speech spoken as part of the employee’s official duties of employment. This is the so-called “Pickering balance test.”

However, there are notable case-law exceptions involving the advocacy of political violence and the potential for the speech to result in workplace disruption. These exceptions seem (to me) to provide an avenue for the university to fire the employee.

I suspect there is also a matter of differences in the employment protections associated with university employment categories. For example, a staff member likely has fewer free-speech protections than a tenured professor.

For those who want to delve into the weeds, here is an interesting article:

https://houstonlawreview.org/article/73668-the-free-speech-of-public-employees-at-a-time-of-political-polarization-clarifying-the-_pickering_-balancing-test


43 posted on 11/15/2025 1:07:26 PM PST by riverdawg
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To: ClearCase_guy
She is an educator who celebrated a school shooting.

She didn't celebrate anything in that post; she simply said she had no sympathy. There was no endorsement of violence.

44 posted on 11/15/2025 1:08:01 PM PST by Captain Walker ("Justice exalteth a nation: but sin maketh nations miserable." – Proverbs 14:34)
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To: falcon99
A private company and organization can fire someone for their speech if it violates their policy.

How about a state university?

45 posted on 11/15/2025 1:11:11 PM PST by Captain Walker ("Justice exalteth a nation: but sin maketh nations miserable." – Proverbs 14:34)
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To: Bullish
Did they govt fire her?

A state university did, which is probably why she will win bigly.

46 posted on 11/15/2025 1:12:58 PM PST by Captain Walker ("Justice exalteth a nation: but sin maketh nations miserable." – Proverbs 14:34)
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To: simpson96

She probably has a case; they can’t fire her for speaking her mind, but they can fire her for bringing bad publicity to the college.


47 posted on 11/15/2025 1:25:17 PM PST by Flaming Conservative ((Pray without ceasing))
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To: dljordan
MTSU sure has changed since the early 70s.

And as late as the early 80s when I used to climb the side of the dormitories to retrieve people's Frisbees and stuff.

This woman was a Dean of Students - I suspect one of the legion of DEI hires who've helped bloat college costs throughout the nation - who should have policed her own opinions just as hard as her cohorts police those of the paying students'.

A case where the dragon ends up swallowing it's own tail.

48 posted on 11/15/2025 1:59:25 PM PST by MikelTackNailer (When did cisgender heteronormativity become a problem?)
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To: kiryandil

“Do you EVER have a conservative opinion?

Axing for a friend...”
****************************************
Do you ever ask an intelligent question?
Asking for myself...a true conservative does not hide behind an imaginary friend.
Don’t be such an ahole. You seem to belong to a core contingent of tight butt freepers whose motto is “my 99% friend is my 100% enemy.I thought that was a leftist ideology.
I voiced an innocuous opinion about what I thought the law was. Nowhere did I say whether I agreed with any laws or the firing. Not that it matters and I don’t need your validation, but I have no problem at all with her firing.


49 posted on 11/15/2025 3:41:52 PM PST by sunny bonobo
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To: Gen.Blather

She brought disrepute in her employer.

That’s reason enough.

L


50 posted on 11/15/2025 3:43:25 PM PST by Lurker ( Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: simpson96

When you lose Murfreesboro you’re in trouble lol


51 posted on 11/15/2025 3:44:19 PM PST by wardaddy (If u hate Trump you’re oh eff offstupid or clueless what’s going on)
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To: sunny bonobo; dummy
I voiced an innocuous opinion about what I thought the law was.

You're ALWAYS "voicing an innocuous opinion"...

52 posted on 11/15/2025 3:45:36 PM PST by kiryandil (No one in AZ that voted for Trump voted for Gallego )
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To: Captain Walker
Then it isn't free.

Nonsense. She was free to say what she did. She was not incarcerated or sanctioned by any government.

And her employer enjoys freedom of association and decided they no longer want to be associated with her.

53 posted on 11/15/2025 4:34:34 PM PST by MileHi ((Liberalism is an ideology of parasites, hypocrites, grievance mongers, victims, and control freaks.)
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To: simpson96

they ALWAYS have these unconventional, hyphenated last names!


54 posted on 11/15/2025 5:41:36 PM PST by millenial4freedom (Government was supposed to preserve freedom, not serve as a jobs program for delinquents and misfits)
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To: simpson96

She certainly has free speech. but she doesn’t have a right to her job or to embarrass her employer. She want just a worker bee, but someone making policy decisions. So, tough shit for her.


55 posted on 11/15/2025 6:43:50 PM PST by captain_dave
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To: aspasia
Trevor Tomesh, assistant professor of Computer, Information and Data Science (CIDS) at the University of Wisconsin – River Falls gets to the heart of the matter:

This pretty much sums up the absurdity of the thread.

Trevor Tomesh points out that the one place in society where one should be able to express opinions and ideas is a college campus. Charlie Kirk gets killed by someone who is apparently upset at his opinions and ideas; the woman who posts her indifference to his death loses her job.

No matter whose side you're on, free speech took a step backwards.

56 posted on 11/15/2025 7:34:21 PM PST by Captain Walker ("Justice exalteth a nation: but sin maketh nations miserable." – Proverbs 14:34)
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To: mikey_hates_everything
Her posts connect her to the university she works for which can choose not to be associated with murder advocates in its high positions.

She didn't advocate for CK's murder; she simply expressed feelings of indifference to it.

It appears that it's because she hasn't demonstrated obeisance to the deceased that she's being pilloried here.

57 posted on 11/15/2025 7:41:57 PM PST by Captain Walker ("Justice exalteth a nation: but sin maketh nations miserable." – Proverbs 14:34)
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To: Captain Walker

She’s not dumb enough to outright say he deserved it, but that’s what she said and students in that school looking for validation will see it that way. She’s supposed to be an example there and instead of clearly denouncing Kirk’s murder basically gave a thumbs up to it.


58 posted on 11/15/2025 8:20:35 PM PST by mikey_hates_everything
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To: dljordan

From the early 80’s, too.


59 posted on 11/15/2025 8:38:15 PM PST by Raven6 (Psalm 144:1 and Proverbs 22:3)
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