A university professor who wrote a Facebook post calling Charlie Kirk a “Nazi,” shortly after the MAGA commentator was shot dead in Utah, cannot be fired over his online comments, a judge has ruled.
Phillip Michael Hook, a tenured Professor of Art at the University of South Dakota, stated that he did not “give a flying f***” about Kirk and described him as a “hate spreading Nazi” in the post on the afternoon of September 10.
“I wasn’t paying close enough attention to the idiotic right fringe to even know who he was. I’m sorry for his family that he was a hate spreading Nazi and got killed,” he wrote on Facebook, adding: “I have no thoughts or prayers for this hate spreading Nazi. A shrug, maybe.”
He later posted another message in which he publicly apologized for posting the comments, adding that he regretted them.
But the comments caught the eye of state officials, including South Dakota Speaker of the House Jon Hansen and Republican Governor Larry Rhoden, both of whom called for Hook’s dismissal.
Shortly after posting the messages to his private Facebook, Hook was placed on administrative leave and notified of the intent to remove him from his position by the South Dakota Board of Regents.
According to a complaint, seen by The Independent, on September 23, Hook filed for an injunction against USD, claiming “core political speech in violation of the First Amendment” had been violated.
USD President Sheila Gestring, South Dakota Board of Regents President Tim Rave, and Bruce Kelley, Dean of the University of South Dakota College of Fine Arts, were all named as defendants in the suit.
On Wednesday, U.S. Senior Judge Karen E. Schreier of the District Court of South Dakota issued a temporary restraining order and ordered that Hook’s position be reinstated and remain in place until the preliminary injunction hearing on October 8.
In her ruling Schreier concluded that Hook had spoken “as a citizen” and his speech was “on a matter of public concern” – which is constitutionally protected.
Jim Leach, who is representing Hook in the case, said that a public sector employee “doesn’t forfeit the right to free speech because they happen to be a public employee,” echoing the judge’s comments that the professor had spoken out on a“matter of public concern.”
“Yet here, we have the government, at the highest level, punishing Professor Hook for his political speech,” he added, per the South Dakota Searchlight.
Following Wednesday’s ruling an online petition to reinstate Hook had garnered almost 10,000 signatures.
The Independent has reached out to the University of South Dakota for comment on Hook’s complaint and the judge’s Wednesday ruling.
