Professor Sues Senator Over Alleged Role in His Firing

Austin Peay State University theater professor Darren Michael is suing Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, arguing she used her political power to have him fired for posting on social media about the late conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk. 

Michael was one of dozens of faculty members disciplined or terminated last fall after posting about Kirk. Shortly after Kirk was shot and killed during an event at Utah Valley University, Michael posted a screenshot of a 2023 Newsweek headline that said, “Charlie Kirk Says Gun Deaths ‘Unfortunately’ Worth It To Keep 2nd Amendment.” Michael’s Facebook post was picked up and amplified by conservatives on X alongside calls for his termination. Among those who shared Michael’s post was Blackburn, who posted a screenshot of the post on X and wrote, “What do you say, @austinpeay?” 

Michael was fired Sept. 12, two days after his initial Facebook post and the same day Blackburn posted on X. In his termination letter, university president Mike Licari wrote that he was fired “due to recent social media posts that have caused significant reputational damage to the university.” Michael subsequently sued the university and, in December, won reinstatement and a $500,000 settlement. 

Michael’s latest complaint, filed in Tennessee Middle District Court on Aug. 7, argues that Blackburn’s post called on Austin Peay State “to take action against [Michael]” and was “intended to, and did in fact, place substantial coercive pressure on APSU to terminate or otherwise discipline [Michael] in retaliation for his speech.” 

Shortly before he was terminated, Michael was called to a meeting with his dean, department chair and Austin Peay State Provost Mitchell Cordova. During the meeting, Cordova told Michael that the university was facing coercive pressure from Blackburn to discipline him, according to the complaint. A week later, Licari told faculty members that the current political climate requires “uncomfortable trade-offs,” such as Michael’s firing.

Michael is seeking injunctive and compensatory damages, as well as a declaration that Blackburn’s conduct violated his First and 14th Amendment rights. 

In a statement, Blackburn’s campaign manager Abigail Sigler said the senator hadn’t yet been served with the lawsuit. Blackburn is currently the Republican nominee for governor of Tennessee.

“The plaintiff apparently decided to try it in the media first,” Sigler wrote. “Based on what we have seen, it is a meritless attempt to punish Senator Blackburn and others for criticizing outrageous public statements concerning political violence and the murder of a husband, father, and patriot. The criticism of those public statements is protected speech, not defamation.”

Michael isn’t the first professor to sue a politician who amplified their post about Kirk. Bridget Sullivan, a former athletics trainer at Wake Forest University, sued North Carolina Rep. Pat Harrigan for libel after she left her job in September. After Kirk died, Sullivan posted the lyrics, “He had it coming, he had it coming,” from the musical Chicago to her personal Instagram story, which was screenshotted and distributed on X. Harrigan wrote on X that he had contacted Wake Forest about the post. 

“If a staff member is openly celebrating the assassination of Charlie Kirk, it crosses every line of decency and professionalism,” Harrigan wrote. “No university should tolerate an employee glorifying political violence. Anything less than firing her is an endorsement of it.”

He followed up with a Sept. 16 post, writing, “I’m happy to report that after I contacted @WakeForest, Bridget has been FIRED for celebrating Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Even better, the university is giving full support to students launching a @TPUSA chapter.”

Sullivan sued Harrigan in October, alleging he libeled her when he posted that she had been fired. In her complaint, Sullivan said she and Wake Forest had mutually agreed to part ways. She eventually dropped the suit in February after a U.S. attorney had the case moved to federal court.

In a similar lawsuit filed in July, Steven Thrasher, a journalism professor at Northwestern University who was denied tenure in 2025, accused several politicians—including Education Secretary Linda McMahon and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—of pressuring university officials to punish him over his pro-Palestinian activism.