{"id":282,"date":"2026-07-13T12:09:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalminorityreport.com\/?p=282"},"modified":"2026-07-13T12:09:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:09:24","slug":"arkansas-teacher-terminated-for-anti-charlie-kirk-comments-sues-district-for-1st-amendment-violations-the-college-fix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalminorityreport.com\/arkansas-teacher-terminated-for-anti-charlie-kirk-comments-sues-district-for-1st-amendment-violations-the-college-fix\/","title":{"rendered":"Arkansas teacher terminated for anti-Charlie Kirk comments sues district for 1st Amendment violations | The College Fix"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Local ACLU: \u2018Public employees do not surrender their First Amendment rights when they accept government employment\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Arkansas high school biology teacher terminated for lauding the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on social media is suing his school district for violation of his First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[snip]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added \u201cJust seemed fitting today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to his lawsuit<\/a>, Duncan deleted the post approximately 12 hours later which allegedly was seen by only about 1,200 of his Facebook friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette<\/a><\/em> reports that four days later, Duncan wrote an apology to his principal stating \u201che would \u2018take any corrective steps the District feels are appropriate.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duncan (pictured) <\/em>also posted an apology on Facebook, writing \u201cI am committed to learning from this mistake and ensuring that what I put into the world reflects my sincere compassion and understanding \u2026 I am determined to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[snip]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The policy notes in part that posts on social media \u201ccould potentially lead to disciplinary action being taken.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStaff are reminded that the same relationship, exchange, interaction, information, or behavior that would be unacceptable in a non-technological medium, is unacceptable when done through the use of technology,\u201d the policy reads. \u201cA good rule of thumb for staff to use is, \u2018if you wouldn\u2019t say it in class, don\u2019t say it online.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Whether permitted or not specifically forbidden by policy, or when expressed in an adult-to-adult, face-to-face context, what in other mediums of expression could remain private opinions, including \u201clikes\u201d or comments that endorse or support the message or speech of another person, when expressed by staff on a social media website, have the potential to be disseminated far beyond the speaker\u2019s desire or intention. This could undermine the public\u2019s perception of the individual\u2019s fitness to educate students, thus undermining the teacher\u2019s effectiveness. In this way, the expression and publication of such opinions could potentially lead to disciplinary action being taken against the staff member, up to and including termination of the contract of employment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The lawsuit claims Duncan\u2019s post \u201cdid not disrupt operations\u201d at his school, nor were students \u201cadversely affected\u201d by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[snip]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complaint also says it is \u201clikely\u201d Duncan did not get a position at another school district for which he \u201cwas qualified\u201d due to his firing from the Russellville district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complaint also says it is \u201clikely\u201d Duncan did not get a position at another school district for which he \u201cwas qualified\u201d due to his firing from the Russellville district.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arkansas ACLU Legal Director John Williams said in a July 8 press release regarding the case that \u201cpublic employees do not surrender their First Amendment rights when they accept government employment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[snip]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several individuals fired from their positions for similar anti-Kirk remarks have filed lawsuits and won settlements. A pair of professors in Tennessee agreed to settlements of $1.9 million<\/a> and $500,000 respectively<\/a>, Ball State University\u2019s director of health promotion and advocacy settled for $225,000<\/a>, and a Clemson professor agreed to resign his position, but not before receiving five months of pay and benefits<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(*) Full article: https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/arkansas-teacher-terminated-for-anti-charlie-kirk-comments-sues-district-for-1st-amendment-violations\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local ACLU: \u2018Public employees do not surrender their First Amendment rights when they accept government employment\u2019 An Arkansas high school biology teacher terminated for lauding the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk on social media is suing his school district for violation of his First Amendment rights. [snip] He added \u201cJust seemed fitting today.\u201d According […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalminorityreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalminorityreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalminorityreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalminorityreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalminorityreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/globalminorityreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":286,"href":"https:\/\/globalminorityreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions\/286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalminorityreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalminorityreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalminorityreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalminorityreport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}