Clemson University reaches settlement with professor fired over Charlie Kirk post
A Clemson University professor who was fired over a social media post about slain Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk has reached a settlement with the university.
Dr. Joshua Bregy, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at the South Carolina college, was fired on Sept. 26, 2025, after reposting a Facebook post commenting on Kirk's murder.
According to a press release by the ACLU of South Carolina, the post condemned the violence but said that Kirk faced "karma" for his "cold-hearted" rhetoric.
"I’ll never advocate for violence in any form, but it sounds to me like karma is sometimes swift and ironic," the post said. "As Kirk said, 'play certain games, win certain prizes.'"
The post added that "no one should be gunned down" but Kirk was a "flawed human being whose rhetoric caused notable damage."
Under the agreement reached last week but made public on Thursday, Bregy agreed to dismiss his lawsuit against Clemson University and its officials.
Clemson agreed to rescind Bregy’s termination, and Bregy will resign by May 15, 2026. He will remain on payroll with benefits until that date but will have no teaching or student interaction during that time.
The agreement allows Bregy to continue listing Clemson University as his institutional affiliation for any pending grants through his resignation date. It also provides that Clemson Provost Robert H. Jones will provide positive letters of recommendation to future employers.
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Bregy's attorneys at the ACLU of South Carolina celebrated the development.
"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," said ACLU of South Carolina Legal Director Allen Chaney in a press release. "Politicians and university administrators come and go, but years from now we will still be here. So will the U.S. Constitution."
The settlement comes the same week a Tennessee professor who had been fired over his own post about Charlie Kirk reached a settlement with his employer.
Darren Michael, an associate professor of acting and directing at Austin Peay State University, reportedly received $500,000 in a settlement and will be reinstated after he was fired in September for resharing a social media post quoting Kirk's quotes about gun deaths in the wake of his brutal murder that month.
After Kirk's death, multiple higher education employees shared posts on social media appearing to celebrate or justify his murder. Screenshots of the posts spread widely on social media and drew condemnation from Republican lawmakers and conservative groups demanding accountability.
Clemson University did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment from Fox News Digital.