Judge Reinstates Fired Professor Who Called Charlie Kirk a Nazi

A judge said the University of South Dakota acted on political pressure when it fired the professor over a Facebook post, ruling his speech was protected.

A federal judge has ordered the reinstatement of a professor dismissed for writing on social media that he has “no thoughts and prayers” for assassinated conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, whom he called a “hate spreading Nazi.”

U.S. District Judge Karen Schreier issued the ruling on Sept. 24, granting Phillip Michael Hook’s request for a temporary restraining order and directing the University of South Dakota to reinstate Hook to his tenured position pending further proceedings.

Schreier said Hook showed a strong chance of winning his case, that protecting free speech was a “compelling” public interest, and that he would face “irreparable harm” if the firing stood.

Hook, a tenured art professor at the University of South Dakota, posted the remarks to his private Facebook page on Sept. 10, the same day Kirk was gunned down while speaking at Utah Valley University. “I have no thoughts or prayers for this hate spreading Nazi. A shrug, maybe,” Hook wrote.

Hook deleted the message three hours later and posted an apology.

“Apparently my frustration with the sudden onslaught of coverage concerning a guy shot today led to a post I [now] regret posting,“ he wrote, adding, ”I extend this public apology to those who were offended.”

By then, however, public and political backlash was mounting. His post drew swift rebukes from South Dakota Republicans, with House Speaker Jon Hansen saying he was “disgusted by his remarks” and contacted the university president to call for Hook’s termination.

“That kind of disgusting rhetoric from an employee and representative of our university directed toward a good man’s family who was recently assassinated will not be tolerated,” Hansen said in a post on X.

He later posted an update thanking the Board of Regents for “doing the right thing.”

South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden also weighed in.

“When I read this post, I was shaking mad. The Board of Regents intends to FIRE this University of South Dakota professor, and I’m glad,” he wrote on X. “We need more Charlie Kirks on campus and less hatred like this.”

By Tom Ozimek

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