Professor fired over Charlie Kirk post could receive $1.9M in settlement

Video above: A bipartisan group of senators condemns the killing of Charlie Kirk in Sept. 2025.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – University of Tennessee System officials have approved a tentative agreement that would pay a former UT-Knoxville professor who was fired over comments she made in the wake of political activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination nearly $2 million.

The Audit and Compliance Committee of the UT Board of Trustees on Monday voted to approve the settlement that would pay Dr. Tamar Shirinian $1.9 million to end litigation claiming that her First Amendment rights were violated when she was placed on leave last year over comments made on her personal Facebook account after Kirk’s murder.

Shirinian would not be reinstated to her former position as an anthropology professor as part of the settlement, which was OK’d by the full UT Board of Trustees on Tuesday. It still must receive approval from Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti.

The university placed Shirinian on leave in September shortly after Kirk’s death. She apologized in a letter to UT Knoxville Chancellor Donde Plowman in which she called her comments “ineloquent and heartless.” Shirinian condemned political violence in the letter and said that her post was insensitive but did not endorse violence.

A lawsuit was first filed against the university in October, and Shirinian was officially terminated from her position on February 11 for misconduct. A jury trial date in the case had previously been set for January 2027.

Last month, a Tennessee man who was jailed for more than a month over a Facebook post he made about the assassination agreed to an $835,000 settlement. In another case, Austin Peay State University in Clarksville reinstated a professor in January and paid him a $500,000 settlement after he sued over his firing, which took place after he posted a news headline from 2023 that read: “Charlie Kirk Says Gun Deaths ‘Unfortunately’ Worth it to Keep 2nd Amendment.”

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