\n<\/p>\n
The suit is another example of a university punishing students and employees for disparaging or even discussing Kirk after he was killed.<\/p>\n
Photo illustration by Justin Morrison\/Inside Higher Ed | Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images | Nordin Catic\/Getty Images\/The Cambridge Union | Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Ellen Fisher, a third-year law student at the Texas Tech University School of Law, is suing the university after its honor council recommended she be reprimanded for allegedly \u201ccelebrating\u201d the death of conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk. Should the honor code sanction become final, Fisher would be required to report it to the Texas Board of Bar Examiners, and it could cause \u201cincalculable\u201d damage to her career, according to the complaint, filed April 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The suit showcases another example of a university punishing students and employees for disparaging or even discussing Kirk\u2014an advocate of free speech\u2014after he was killed. Several faculty and staff members lost their jobs over comments they made about Kirk during class or on social media. Six months after Kirk died, institutions are still litigating how students and employees should be permitted to speak about him and if their speech is protected by the First Amendment.<\/p>\n
Fisher, founder of the Texas Tech NAACP chapter, claims she was unfairly punished for talking about Kirk\u2019s death because she is Black, and she is calling for compensatory and punitive damages, an injunction to block the honor code sanction, and a jury trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf all the students who discussed Kirk\u2019s shooting in [class], none are Black except Fisher. None were brought before the School of Law Honor Council except Fisher,\u201d the complaint states.<\/p>\n
While Fisher was being investigated by the honor council, someone wrote the N-word on Fisher\u2019s car window while it was parked at Texas Tech. When she reported it to the school, \u201cFisher was told it was irrelevant,\u201d according to the complaint.<\/p>\n
Terri Morgeson, a clinical instructor and director of the School of Law Family Law Clinic, reported Fisher to the honor council after overhearing her discuss Kirk\u2019s death with other classmates in a way she deemed \u201cunprofessional,\u201d the complaint states. Morgeson reported hearing Fisher say, \u201cThat mother fucker\u00a0\u2026 got shot,\u201d though other witnesses disputed this language and Morgeson retracted this during the honor council hearing. Others told the honor council investigator they heard Fisher say to clinical lecturer Joe Stephens, \u201cI\u2019m in the best mood ever\u201d and \u201cThey got him\u00a0\u2026 This is great.\u201d Stephens does not recall Fisher making either comment, he told the honor council during the hearing.<\/p>\n
Fisher also discussed Kirk\u2019s death with other students when news broke in her race and racism law class, and with clinical law professor Patrick Metze in his office. Metze and Stephens told the honor council they did not view her conduct as unprofessional.<\/p>\n
Metze was forced into retirement shortly after the incident, he states in an affidavit filed with the court. He did not respond to Inside Higher Ed<\/em>\u2019s request for an interview Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cAll kinds of things have been said in my office, which have included the use of profanity, but this was never an issue because previously the Texas Tech School of Law, at least prior to my forced retirement, did not conceive of itself as a third grade school yard,\u201d Metze wrote. \u201cAll my students have been grown adult, graduate students in their third year of law school.\u201d<\/p>\n While Fisher was discussing Kirk\u2019s death with other students in Metze\u2019s office, Morgeson interjected from outside the office to say that \u201cTrump just said that he\u00a0\u2026 died,\u201d the complaint states.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Morgeson was actually upset by what she was hearing coming from Metze\u2019s office, nothing required her to join the conversation,\u201d the complaint states. \u201cMorgeson did not complain about \u2018professionalism\u2019 at the time, although she was standing in the doorway to Metze\u2019s office. Morgeson did not shut Metze\u2019s door, for example, which she could have easily done if there were truly tender ears.\u201d<\/p>\n Morgeson and spokespeople for Texas Tech did not respond to Inside Higher Ed<\/em>\u2019s request for comment on the lawsuit.<\/p>\n In a statement, Garrett Gravley, program counsel at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, called Texas Tech\u2019s actions an \u201cegregious\u201d violation of the First Amendment.<\/p>\n \u201cFisher is in academic jeopardy of the highest order: her entire legal career and education are at stake. Yet TTU has failed to give her sufficient notice or information about her alleged conduct\u2014and why it amounts to an Honor Code violation,\u201d Gravely wrote. \u201cThis notice is required for her to properly defend herself. Despite multiple meetings and correspondence with administrators, Fisher has still been left to guess what, specifically, she did to warrant investigation and potential punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The suit is another example of a university punishing students and employees for disparaging or even discussing Kirk after he was killed. Photo illustration by Justin Morrison\/Inside Higher Ed | Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images | Nordin Catic\/Getty Images\/The Cambridge Union | Andrew Harnik\/Getty Images Ellen Fisher, a third-year law student at the Texas Tech University School<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[20785,376,13787,12585,175,393,1983],"class_list":{"0":"post-48333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-celebrating","9":"tag-death","10":"tag-disciplined","11":"tag-kirks","12":"tag-law","13":"tag-student","14":"tag-sues"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}