Clemson professor fired over Charlie Kirk post will get paid but won’t teach

COLUMBIA — A Clemson University professor fired over a Facebook post about Charlie Kirk’s death will get paid through the end of the semester, though he can’t return to any classroom at the college, according to a legal settlement.

Joshua Bregy, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, sued the university in October, about a month after getting fired. A lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union argued Bregy’s firing violated his First Amendment right to free speech.

Along with dropping his lawsuit, Bregy agreed to resign effective May 15, the end of his original contract. Until then, the university will continue to pay him and supply benefits, according to the agreement. During the 2024-2025 school year, Bregy made $91,190, according to Clemson’s salary database.

Bregy, who has worked at Clemson since January 2023, can’t teach, conduct research or interact with students this semester. If he applies for grants, he can list Clemson as his place of employment, and university leadership will give him positive recommendations as he searches for another job, according to the settlement.

“We were honored to represent Dr. Bregy and to reach an agreement that restores his employment, allows him to continue to pursue research funding, and deters the university from violating the First Amendment rights of its faculty in the future,” ACLU attorney Allen Chaney said in a statement. “Politicians and university administrators come and go, but years from now we will still be here. So will the U.S. Constitution.”

In a statement, Clemson spokesman Joe Galbraith confirmed that Bregy will not work in a classroom or with students this semester and noted that both sides of the lawsuit must follow through on their ends of the agreement to make it official.

Another professor and a faculty member were also fired over social media posts criticizing Kirk, a conservative activist, in the days after a gunman fatally shot him in the neck as he debated students during an outdoor event at a Utah university. The other two employees have not sued.

Bregy did not write the Facebook post that lost him his job. The post that Bregy shared but later deleted condemned violence while also pointing to a comment Kirk made about gun violence, calling it “worth it to have the cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year” to maintain constitutional gun rights.

“I’ll never advocate for violence in any form, but it sounds to me like karma is sometimes swift and ironic,” read the Facebook post, included in full in the lawsuit. “As Kirk said, ‘play certain games, win certain prizes.’”

The Clemson College Republicans shared the Facebook post on X, formerly Twitter, alongside other photographs of Bregy holding signs saying Black Lives Matter and climate change was real. From there, the post gained traction, including among state and federal legislators, who called for Bregy’s firing.

The university initially put out a statement saying it disagreed with the sentiments but recognized faculty members’ rights to free speech under the First Amendment, prompting outcry from some who didn’t consider that enough. Republican legislators from both Statehouse chambers, including the lead budget writers, called on the Clemson Board of Trustees to “take immediate and appropriate action,” without clarifying what that meant.

The board suspended Bregy and the other professor on Sept. 15, five days after the Facebook post. Bregy received a letter of termination the next day, saying he “did not show due restraint or respect” and did not clarify that his views did not represent those of Clemson, according to the lawsuit.

Bregy’s firing was part of a nationwide wave of people losing their jobs because of posts criticizing Kirk or celebrating his death.

Some, like Bregy, reached settlements with their former employers, winning back their jobs. Most recently, a tenured professor at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee who was briefly fired because of a post about Kirk received a $500,000 settlement, as well as his job back.

Others, including a teaching assistant in Spartanburg County suing the district that fired her, have ongoing cases.