After the conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September, Laura Sosh-Lightsy fired off a late-night post on Facebook: “Looks like ol’ Charlie spoke his fate into existence. Hate begets hate. ZERO sympathy.”
The comment was harsh, and so was the pushback. Within hours, she was fired from her job as a dean at Middle Tennessee State University, about an hour southeast of Nashville.
It was a stunning turnabout for Ms. Sosh-Lightsy, whose work responsibilities included overseeing conduct and often navigating free-speech questions within the university community. Should a student be punished for using a slur? Can someone be removed from class over derogatory language?
She now finds herself a central figure in a debate over appropriate sanctions for speech — and an example of how much the contours of the free-speech debate has changed in the last year under President Trump, especially in red states like Tennessee. Ms. Sosh-Lightsy is just one of scores of people across the country who have been fired, suspended or called to step aside for things they said about Mr. Kirk or his assassination.
An online campaign, encouraged by some members of the Trump administration, other high-ranking lawmakers and prominent right-wing figures, tried to swiftly single out anyone who made disparaging, callous or celebratory comments after the assassination. Professors, health care workers, lawyers and journalists, restaurant workers and airline employees have all faced consequences for their statements.
For champions of Mr. Kirk’s far-right agenda, those comments seemed indicative of a liberal intolerance and orthodoxy that helped whip up the conditions for Mr. Kirk’s killing. But it was also a sign of how many conservatives had reversed course on their condemnation of what they call cancel culture and instead embarked on a sweeping campaign, especially in Republican-dominated places like Tennessee, to penalize opposing viewpoints and political expression they found to be offensive.
“You have the shock of murder combined with partisan division and vitriol, and that’s a potent combination,” said Will Creeley, the legal director at the nonpartisan Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which is now representing two other Tennesseans penalized for their online posts about Mr. Kirk.
“In those moments, people don’t give a damn about the First Amendment,” he added. “And they just want to see the people who don’t feel like they do shut up.”
Ms. Sosh-Lightsy, 54, has also sued, charging a violation of her First Amendment rights.
In her lawsuit, she argued that a Facebook post outside working hours on her private page — where she had a disclaimer saying views may not reflect that of her employer — did not disrupt university operations.
Facebook had long been an outlet for her, where she shared memes, humor and lengthy political commentary. The posts, she said, had never come up at work, even though she had allowed some colleagues to view them. And having grown up in a conservative, rural area of Kentucky, she knew some relatives and others did not agree with her.
After she heard about Mr. Kirk’s assassination, Ms. Sosh-Lightsy recalled his comments after the 2023 shooting at a private Nashville Christian school: “I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”
“I’m like, this is so ironic that this man was shot at a school and he said, ‘this is just part of it,’” she said. At night, home from work, frustrated with the outpouring of grief, Ms. Sosh-Lightsy said, “I made the post, and I probably could have said it better. I didn’t.”
Her sympathy, she later said, was with his family and those who witnessed the killing. And in a follow-up post, she tried to clarify that she did not support violence. But screenshots began to circulate online, slowly fueling an outcry.
By 9:33 p.m. in Tennessee, Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, called on X for Ms. Sosh-Lightsy’s removal, adding that she should be “ashamed.” Minutes later, Ms. Sosh-Lightsy was told to expect a call from the university president, Dr. Sidney A. McPhee. By the end of the night he had called and fired her, news that was promoted across social media and in an alert on the university’s website.
The comments were “inappropriate and callous,” Dr. McPhee said in a statement at the time, and “undermined the university’s credibility and reputation.” Hundreds of comments — many from people who identified themselves as alumni or parents of current students — flooded the posts, thanking the school for its action. (A spokesman for the school declined to comment, citing the ongoing lawsuit. The school has not yet filed a response in court.)
Conservatives have suffered similar consequences for things they said online, especially in 2020, and successfully brought some free-speech cases. Last year, a federal jury awarded a Nashville firefighter about $1.8 million after the local government demoted him for Facebook comments critical of the Black Lives Matter movement and pandemic mask mandates.
There are conflicting feelings, Ms. Sosh-Lightsy said, when people send her reports that some people penalized for their online posts related to Mr. Kirk have won initial court cases, resulting in reinstatements or monetary awards, including a reported $500,000 settlement in Tennessee. There is some hope for what she sees as a fair outcome, she said, but still frustration that her case is unresolved.
For the next few days, Ms. Sosh-Lightsy said, threatening and critical messages poured in, prompting her to temporarily leave her home. A lesser penalty — being put on leave, losing her responsibilities related to student conduct — could be understood, she said.
But she maintains that she had done nothing egregious, let alone anything to warrant her immediate firing.
“If I’m wrong, and this speech is not protected, then I have never understood what the Constitution means and I have never understood what it protects,” Ms. Sosh-Lightsy said. “Either I haven’t understood it or we are on the edge of completely changing what it means.”
Some friends and longtime work references have distanced themselves publicly and privately. Others who disagree with the extent of Ms. Sosh-Lightsy’s punishment have still declined to say so publicly, wary of retribution for even the slightest association with her.
“I’ve never been one to back down in the face of injustice or inequity,” she said.
But she has since struggled to find a job. Grocery stores, public school systems and other workplaces have rejected her. She is living primarily off the payout from her unused time off, and is looking to sell her car in the coming weeks. She can no longer send money home to help her mother with her bills, and is worried about slipping back into the poverty she grew up in.
“I understand the sentiment that people have — that you did this, you said this awful thing — but I can almost guarantee you that if you put it into an example in their own life, they would say that the extent that I’m being held accountable is excessive,” she said.
She continues to post on Facebook, now, she said, with a hint of caution.
Kirsten Noyes contributed research.
Emily Cochrane is a national reporter for The Times covering the American South, based in Nashville.
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