Tennessee taxpayers wrongly assume that the out-of-control woke liberal propaganda dispensed as “teaching” on college campuses in the elite Ivy League and blue-state universities is not running rampant on our own campuses. That is a completely inaccurate assumption.
Financial A liberal activist theater professor at Austin Peay State University has been reinstated to his position at the school just three months after being fired due to comments he made on social media about the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk. APSU admitted to not following its policies in firing Professor Darren Michael.
Michael was fired on Sept. 12 after social media posts he made about Kirk were shared widely on social media. The posts were made just days after Kirk was assassinated.
After Michael’s posts circulated, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, shared the Facebook post made by Michael on her X account.
Michael’s post was a shared article titled “Charlie Kirk says gun deaths are ‘unfortunately’ worth it to keep 2ndAmendment,” which discussed controversial comments made by Kirk shortly after the Covenant School shooting.
Blackburn’s sharing of the post was captioned with: “What do you say, Austin Peay?”
On September 15 APSU announced that Michael had been fired for social media comments that were “insensitive, disrespectful and interpreted by many as propagating justification for unlawful death.” https://www.theleafchronicle.com/story/news/local/clarksville/2025/09/15/austin-peay-darren-michael-fired-charlie-kirk/86159781007/
“Such actions do not align with Austin Peay’s commitment to mutual respect and human dignity,” said APSU President Mike Licari said in the statement about Michael’s firing. “The university deems these actions unacceptable and has terminated the faculty member.”
A month later the university announced that the professor was instead suspended and that administration had begun the process of terminating Michael’s tenure.
Now, the school is taking a huge step back. Licari announced on Dec. 30 that APSU “did not follow the required tenure termination process in this matter.” As a result,Michael has now been fully reinstated to his position as a tenured professor at Austin Peay.
The University of Tennessee is currently dealing with a similar situation regarding the termination of a professor of queer anthropology who celebrated the assassination of Kirk.
Steve Gill is editor and publisher of TriStar Daily.
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