TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Nov 6, 2025

Laura Sosh-Lightsy worked as a dean at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) for over two decades before getting fired for a social media post about Charlie Kirk. This week, she filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the school, WPLN reports. On Sept. 10 — the day Kirk was assassinated — Sosh-Lightsy posted that she did not have sympathy for Kirk due to his prior comments about gun violence. In the complaint, Sosh-Lightsy argues her comments were made as a private citizen speaking on a matter of public concern and, thus, protected by the First Amendment. The school says she was fired because the comments caused a “disruption and interference with University operations.”