KNOXVILLE – The University of Tennessee (UT) is asking a federal judge to dismiss a request by an assistant professor of Queer Anthropology to end her suspension over a vile social media post attacking Charlie Kirk that she made after the conservative activist was assassinated.
Tamar Shirinian filed a lawsuit against the university, Chancellor Donde Plowman, UT System President Randy Boyd, and Faculty Senate President Charles Noble, seeking to return to her job as a professor of cultural anthropology and to halt the effort by university leaders to fire her.
UT responded Nov. 19, saying Shirinian waited too long to seek a temporary restraining order – she filed it 51 days after she was suspended Sept. 15. Additionally, UT asserts Shirinian will not prevail on her argument that 1st Amendment rights were violated by the school.
Plowman suspended Shirinian with pay and started the process to fire her the day after the comments Shirinian made on a friend’s Facebook post became public. Tennessee elected officials and others demanded her firing by the university.
“The world is better off without him in it,” Shirinian wrote on Sept. 12, two days after Kirk was killed at a public appearance on a Utah campus. “Even those who are claiming to be sad for his wife and kids….like, his kids are better off living in a world without a disgusting psychopath like him.” Shirinian also blasted Kirk’s wife, saying Erika Kirk was a “sick f—” for marrying him.
UT asserts Shirinian’s speech is not protected by the First Amendment. Specifically, the university argues Shirinian will fail a three-prong test that establishes whether her speech deserves First Amendment protection.
The test, the university says in its filing, requires her to prove she spoke as a private citizen; her comment addressed “a matter of public concern;” and her free speech rights outweigh the university’s interests as her employer. UT argues that Shirinian will fail on the third component because her comment disrupted the university’s operations and undermined its mission.
The university says it enjoys a “wide degree of deference” under the law, and Shirinian should have known her comment would impede her ability to do her job and compromise campus safety. Returning her to the classroom, UT says, will prolong the disruption.
UT is asking the judge to maintain Shirinian’s suspension to keep her out of the classroom of the court does not dismiss her lawsuit. Shirinian and her legal team will have the opportunity to respond to the university’s motion in a few weeks.
Steve Gill is editor and publisher of TriStar Daily.
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