University of Tennessee System officials have greenlit a tentative $1.9 million settlement for a former UT-Knoxville professor who was terminated over a social media comment made in the aftermath of political activist Charlie Kirk's assassination. The payout, approved Monday by the Board of Trustees' Audit and Compliance Committee and ratified by the full board Tuesday, aims to resolve a First Amendment lawsuit filed by Dr. Tamar Shirinian.
Shirinian, an anthropology professor, was placed on leave last September shortly after Kirk's death and later fired in February for misconduct. She had posted a comment on her personal Facebook page that the university deemed inappropriate. Under the settlement, she will not be reinstated to her former position. The agreement still requires approval from Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti before it becomes final.
The case is part of a broader pattern of legal battles over free speech and political expression on college campuses. In a related development, a Tennessee man jailed for over a month over a Facebook post about Kirk's assassination agreed to an $835,000 settlement last month. Meanwhile, Austin Peay State University reinstated a professor in January and paid him $500,000 after he was fired for sharing a 2023 news headline quoting Kirk on gun deaths.
Shirinian's lawsuit, filed in October, argued that her First Amendment rights were violated when the university disciplined her for comments made on her own time and on her personal account. In a letter to UT Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman, she apologized, describing her remarks as “ineloquent and heartless,” and condemned political violence, insisting the post was insensitive but did not endorse violence. A jury trial had been scheduled for January 2027 before the settlement was reached.
The case has drawn attention to the tensions between academic freedom and institutional response to politically charged speech. The settlement, if approved, would mark one of the larger payouts in recent university free-speech disputes. The family of Charlie Kirk is expected to attend a key hearing in the murder case, as legal proceedings continue against the accused.
University officials have not commented on the settlement beyond the board's approval. Governor Lee's office and Attorney General Skrmetti have yet to announce a timeline for their review. The outcome could set a precedent for how public universities handle similar disputes in the future.
