Tennessee university to pay $1.9 million to professor fired over Charlie Kirk comments

A University of Tennessee professor who was fired after calling Charlie Kirk a “disgusting psychopath” in the wake of his assassination would receive $1.9 million under a tentative settlement approved by the university system’s Board of Trustees Audit and Compliance Committee in a nonpublic session held after the board’s annual meeting Monday, eight months after she sued the school over the firing. 

The settlement does not restore Tamar Shirinian, a former assistant professor of anthropology, to her position at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. It still must be approved by Gov. Bill Lee and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti before it is final, according to the Daily Beacon, the University of Tennessee’s student newspaper. 

The controversy began Sept. 12, 2025, two days after Kirk, the Turning Point USA co-founder, was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University. Ms. Shirinian made the comment on a friend’s private Facebook post, writing in part that the “world is better off without him in it,” adding that Kirk’s children were “better off living in a world without a disgusting psychopath like him” before disparaging his widow. 

The post was spread online by a social media user, sparking public outrage and calls for the university to fire her. UT System President Randy Boyd announced an investigation on Sept. 15, 2025, and Chancellor Donde Plowman placed Ms. Shirinian on leave and began the process of terminating her.

Ms. Shirinian later apologized, calling the remarks “insensitive” and “uncharacteristic of me as a person,” but Ms. Plowman finalized her firing on Feb. 11. In the termination letter, the chancellor wrote that Ms. Shirinian’s “words celebrated a gruesome murder, which horrifically took place on a college campus similar to our own, and then went on to callously demean the grief and loss felt by the widow and young children of the victim.”

Ms. Shirinian sued the university in federal court on Oct. 29, alleging the school violated her First Amendment rights. The case had been headed toward a jury trial set for January 2027 before the tentative settlement was reached. 

Board Chair John Compton, who recused himself from the vote on the settlement, said continuing the litigation “would require significant time and attention, and financial resources,” and that those resources “are better directed toward advancing the institution’s mission, vision and values.” 

Ms. Shirinian’s attorney, Robb Bigelow, said in a statement that “litigation is always difficult,” adding: “We believe the resolution reflects the seriousness of the issues while allowing everyone to move forward. We wish the University nothing but success in the future.”

Ms. Shirinian taught courses including Queer Anthropology, Feminist Anthropology and Decolonization, according to her faculty biography, as reported by the College Fix. 

Ms. Shirinian’s case was not the only one of its kind in Tennessee. Austin Peay State University reinstated professor Darren Michael in January, four months after he was fired over a social media post following Kirk’s assassination, and paid him $500,000 as part of that settlement. 

A final court filing ending Ms. Shirinian’s lawsuit is due by Aug. 28, according to Knox News, which first reported the settlement.