Middle Tennessee State University fired an assistant dean after she posted online that she had "zero sympathy" for Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist shot and killed Wednesday. The university's president, Sidney McPhee, cited the "inappropriate and callous comments" as inconsistent with the school's values and damaging to its credibility, USA Today reports. The statement noted that the terminated employee, Laura Sosh-Lightsy, who had more than two decades of student development experience and had been at the university since 2004, was dismissed effective immediately. The university, which is located about 40 miles south of Nashville, expressed its "deepest sympathies" to the Kirk family.
The firing followed a surge of reaction online, particularly after US Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican and gubernatorial candidate, amplified the comments on X and called for Sosh-Lightsy's removal. Blackburn said Sosh-Lightsy should be "ashamed" of the comment. It was far from the only firing related to Kirk's death, reports the Hill in a roundup of similar cases:
- A teacher in South Carolina was fired after a social media post saying "America became greater" after Kirk's death.
- An Iowa school district is moving forward on firing a teacher who posted "1 Nazi down" after Kirk's death, the Des Moines Register reports.
- A Carolina Panthers employee was fired after a post wondering, "Why are yall sad? Your man said it was worth it...," the Charlotte Observer reports.
- An Arizona sportswriter also lost his job over a post related to Kirk's death.
- Others were under fire, but still employed, including a firefighter in New Orleans who called the bullet "a gift from god" and a teacher and city councilor in Oregon who said Kirk's death "really brightened up my day."
(MSNBC
also dropped an analyst over his comments on Kirk's death.)
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