Court Cases

Clemson University fired a faculty member in September 2025 for sharing another person's Facebook post via his personal account that was critical of the late conservative pundit Charlie Kirk. The full text of the post is available below. The public university fired a highly qualified assistant professor under pressure from politicians who threatened to defund the university if it did not bend to their will. Faculty at Clemson say that the firing “sent shockwaves through the faculty, triggered an emergency meeting of the faculty senate, and has fractured the faculty’s trust and confidence in the Provost, University President, and Board of Trustees.” The plaintiff in this case, Dr. Joshua Bregy, worked as an assistant professor in Clemson’s Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences. He researched the reconstruction of hurricane records and taught both undergraduate and graduate courses. Because Dr. Bregy is the only faculty member who is qualified to teach those courses, the university scrambled to meet the needs of its students after firing him. Dr. Bregy’s complaint is asking a federal court to declare his firing unconstitutional under the First Amendment, order the university to reinstate him, and award back pay as well as compensatory and punitive damages.