State officials demand firing of law professor over Kirk comments

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock law professor has been suspended with pay after posting social media comments celebrating the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, with top state officials demanding her immediate termination.

Professor Felicia Branch, who joined the William H. Bowen School of Law faculty in July as assistant professor of clinical education and tax clinic director, made several Facebook posts about Kirk’s death that she later deleted, according to Little Rock Public Radio.

“It never fails,” Branch wrote in one post, according to the radio station. “I will not pull back from CELEBRATING that an evil man died by the method he chose to embrace.”

Kirk, 31, founder of Turning Point USA, was shot during a question-and-answer event at a Utah college on Sept. 10 and pronounced dead later that day.

Branch’s post referenced Psalm 109, a Bible passage she described as calling for justice against evil. In another post, she appeared to compare those mourning Kirk’s death to the Ku Klux Klan, writing “we certainly see you,” Little Rock Public Radio reported.

Attorney General Tim Griffin posted screenshots of the comments on his Facebook page, calling them “appalling.”

“We should and do have broad academic freedom in this country,” Griffin said Tuesday. “But protections for scholarship offer no reason for an employer to tolerate an employee unabashedly celebrating political assassination.”

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Branch’s comments “vile, disgusting, and unacceptable” in a post on X, demanding her termination.

Lt. Gov. Leslie Rutledge called for an investigation, writing to law school Dean Colin Crawford that Branch’s statements are “incompatible with the values of higher education, the legal profession, and the rule of law.”

University Chancellor Christina Drale announced Branch’s suspension Tuesday and condemned what she called “violent rhetoric” while defending academic freedom.

“As educators we should hold ourselves to a higher standard of conduct that values civil discourse, speaks clearly about the dangers of political violence, and that prioritizes a rigorous, fair-minded learning environment,” Drale said. Branch’s posts “do not reflect this standard.”