Initially, Clemson University took a stand on freedom of speech. It condemned the comments of the employees who made Charlie Kirk’s death in the social media, but the school said that it was obliged to protect the constitution. Three days later, under pressure from the conservatives in the Statehouse, it released one of the employees. When an outcry grew and the White House interested, two more fired it.
The speedy developments at the public university in South Carolina reflect the intensive pressure on the comments that are insensitive to the conservative’s attack by the police, which they leave without basic decisions.
The universities can oppose the Republicans and defend their employees’ voice rights and risk the kind of federal attention that has led billions of dollars to cuts at Harvard and other universities. Or you can bow and risk the pressure, which some scholars consider as historical erosion of speech rights on campus.
A campaign below the right to punish the derogatory Kirk has reduced the industries in the industries. Some conservatives call for the dismissal of employees of the private sector, journalists and others who promote them as violence. But the missions are particularly high for universities, which are already being examined intensively by an administration that has tried to redesign the campus, which it has “awakened” and overrun on the left -wing thinking.
The White House coordinated a call to federal authorities on Monday to discuss “financing options” to Clemson and other universities, according to a person with knowledge of the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting. The white house did not provide any details.
The increasing appetite of the federal government to dictate what can be said about the first change on the campus-von protests against the Israel-Hamas War and comments on the death of Kirk-, said Lara Schwartz, an American university scientist about constitutional law and campus speech. As uncomfortable as they may be, she said, many comments that cause outrage, are clearly protected language.
“This could significantly signal the end of the free expression in the United States,” said Schwartz. “People shouldn’t read this as a small fight against social media, but as a complete constitutional crisis.”
Conservatives throughout the government target Clemson
At the weekend, Clemson became an epicenter in a struggle between those who worshiped, and those who twisted Kirk. The Republicans at all levels hurried to support a Campus -Gop Club, who shared the social media post of employees on campus, who mocked Kirk’s death. The state’s legislator appeared on campus and signs the dismissal of the employees.
A screenshot spread by the college republicans showed that a professor of audio technology published a message on the day of the murder: “According to Kirk, Empathy is an invented concept of new age, so keep the jokes. It is what he would have wanted.”
In the congress, the Republicans of the House of Justice on Clemson’s explanation reacted, in which freedom of speech defended with a social media post with two words: “Defund Clemson”. The legislators of the state threatened to reduce the financing, including one whose post was distributed by President Donald Trump.
The Republican of South Carolina, Nancy Mace, who runs for the governor, sent a letter to the educational department on Monday and asked him to draw all federal financing of schools and universities that do not quickly terminate the employees, “celebrate or justify political violence”.
Before an emergency assembly of Clemson’s Board of Directors on Monday, the state’s lawyer attorney general sent a letter in which the leaders would be approved by the shots under state law. Alan Wilson said that dismissed employees can question the layoffs in civil cases, but Clemson or other universities would not be prosecuted under a state law that prohibits shots based on political opinions.
“The fear of criminal prosecution should not prevent the president of a state university like Clemson from taking the corresponding corrective measures against university employees for such hideous and brandy comments on a public platform,” wrote Wilson.
An employee was released before the meeting, and Clemson announced that he had released two more, both faculty members on Tuesday.
Several colleges have released employees because of Kirk comments
Conservatives who call for the appearance have said to glorify and celebrate violence. Attorney General Pam Bondi Schwor Schwor to pursue those whose speech threatens the violence after Kirk’s killing.
“We have observed for far too long how the radical lefts normalize the threats, demand attacks and cheer on political violence,” she said. “This era is over.”
The Minister of Education Linda McMahon encouraged schools and colleges to pass the murder on Wednesday. In a video declaration, she said that such comments were the product of universities and schools that breed “split ideologies”.
“I recommend the institutions and leaders who quickly acted to condemn and blame those who have exceeded this ethical line,” she said.
Several universities have released or suspended employees through comments, including the University of Miami, the University of Tennessee, Auburn University and the University of California in Los Angeles.
Others have warned that they examine social media contributions. On the one hand, Iowa authorized the state’s public universities to take measures immediately, including termination. President Sherry Bates said that last week was “insulting, inappropriate and especially unacceptable”.
“We expect more from those who work on our institutions,” she said.
Some university leaders have applied to find a balance that condemned the insensitive comments and at the same time promises the obligation to the principles of the first change. In Georgia, Stuart Rayfield, President of Columbus State University, said that an online post of a professor was regrettable, but the faculty and the students are “entitled to their personal views in the first change”.
The heads of state and government of the University of Missouri respect the rights of employees to speak as citizens on Wednesday, but they encouraged employees to “use these freedoms responsibly, especially if they are involved in social media”.
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Alanna Durkin Richer, Associated Press author, contributed to this report.
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