{"id":53,"date":"2026-05-27T16:13:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T16:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=53"},"modified":"2026-05-27T16:13:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T16:13:53","slug":"ball-state-university-employee-fired-for-criticizing-charlie-kirk-receives-225000-in-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=53","title":{"rendered":"Ball State University Employee Fired for Criticizing Charlie Kirk Receives $225,000 in Settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n\tSuzanne Swierc, the former director of Health Promotion and Advocacy at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, has been awarded $225,000 in a settlement connected to her firing over social media remarks about Charlie Kirk following the right-wing figure\u2019s assassination.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=51\">Trump Is in Freefall \u2014 But Can Dems Do the Work to Actually Win Back Voters?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cSuzanne was speaking as a private citizen on a matter of public concern when Ball State fired her over a private social media post,\u201d said Stevie Pactor, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Indiana. \u201cThe First Amendment does not allow government institutions to retaliate in those circumstances, and this settlement reflects that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tSwierc and the ACLU sued Ball State University in September 2025 for violating her right to free speech. Her firing from the institution came after she was targeted by the right-wing account\u00a0Libs of TikTok\u00a0on X, as well as Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, over posts she published on a private Facebook account regarding the killing of Kirk.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn the post, Swierc wrote, \u201cLet me be clear: if you think Charlie Kirk was a wonderful person, we can\u2019t be friends.\u201d She referred to his death as \u201ca tragedy,\u201d expressed empathy for his wife and kids, and noted that while the shooting was \u201ca reflection of the violence, fear, and hatred he sowed,\u201d it \u201cdoes not excuse his death.\u201d Ball State University President Geoffrey Mearns notified Swierc of her immediate termination and cited the Facebook post as his reasoning. <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n\tSwierc\u2019s position at Ball State University was purely administrative, as she was not a member of the educational faculty. Her role\u00a0developed health and wellness programming for students at the institution located around 50 miles from Indianapolis. According to the ACLU of Indiana, the agreement reached in response to the lawsuit \u201callows Ball State employees to serve as references for Swierc and provides that, if asked, her supervisors will acknowledge her positive contributions to health promotion and advocacy work at the university.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=49\">What \u2018Survivor\u2019 Taught America About Truth and Power<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tIn response to the settlement, Mearns issued a statement to Ball State colleagues in which he stood by his decision to terminate Swierc\u2019s employment at the university. \u201cUnder the terms of the settlement agreement, our University provided Ms. Swierc with a modest monetary payment. I authorized that payment, because it is substantially less than the anticipated amount of our University\u2019s legal fees to defend the case,\u201d Mearns stated in the letter, published by the . \u201cThe settlement does not vindicate Ms. Swierc\u2019s claims, as her lawyers have stated today.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n\tMearns maintains that the public response to the Facebook post \u201cwas extraordinarily damaging to our University\u2019s reputation and image, and it was exceptionally disruptive to our mission and our people.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>\n\tEarlier this year, Austin Peay State University reinstated a professor who was similarly fired over social media posts relating to Kirk\u2019s death. He was awarded $500,000 in his settlement, which hinged on his posting of a 2023 news article titled, \u201cCharlie Kirk Says Gun Deaths \u2018Unfortunately\u2019 Worth it to Keep 2nd Amendment.\u201d And just last week, a biologist who was fired by Florida\u2019s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for sharing memes about Kirk\u2019s death was awarded $485,000 in a settlement.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/businessmovingservicess.com\/?p=47\">Young People Can\u2019t Stop Using AI \u2014 But that Doesn\u2019t Mean They Like It<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former Ball State University employee fired over social media comments about Charlie Kirk following his death was awarded a $225,000 settlement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts-and-crime"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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