Reinstate Dr. Tamar Shirinian! Defend Free Speech at UTK!

United Campus Workers Southeast (CWA Local 3821) - UTK Chapter

On Monday, September 15, 2025, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), Chancellor Donde Plowman announced termination proceedings against Dr. Tamar Shirinian, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, for a social media post in which Dr. Shirinian commented on Charlie Kirk's death. Terminating employees for exercising their first amendment rights to freedom of expression is wrong. UTK should immediately reinstate Dr. Shirinian.

Disciplinary action against Dr. Shirinian violates her First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Dr. Shirinian’s comment was made on a Facebook post that did not mention Dr. Shirinian’s work at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Dr. Shirinian should be able to post on social media without retaliation from her employer.

The Board of Trustees “Policy Affirming Principles of Free Speech for Students and Faculty” (BT0010 – Section 3) states:

C. The University must be committed to maintaining a campus as a marketplace of ideas for all students and all faculty in which the free exchange of ideas is not to be suppressed because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even by most members of the University’s community to be offensive, unwise, immoral, indecent, disagreeable, conservative, liberal, traditional, radical, or wrongheaded.

D. It is for the University’s individual students and faculty to make judgments about ideas for themselves, and to act on those judgments not by seeking to suppress free speech, but by openly and vigorously contesting the ideas that they oppose.

E. It is not the proper role of the University to attempt to shield individuals from free speech, including ideas and opinions they find offensive, unwise, immoral, indecent, disagreeable, conservative, liberal, traditional, radical, or wrong-headed.

In the past, UTK condoned actual calls to violence by faculty members, when in 2016 Dr. Glenn Reynolds tweeted “Run ‘em down” in response to protesters in Charlotte blocking highways. Reynolds received no disciplinary action from the University. Therefore, the targeting of Dr. Shirinian reflects an increased attack on the freedom of speech of UTK workers.

We, the undersigned faculty, staff, students, and allies across institutions of higher education, stand in solidarity with Dr. Shirinian and call on Chancellor Donde Plowman, to:

1. Reinstate Dr. Shirinian immediately.

2. Publicly affirm the constitutional right of all employees to speak as private individuals without retaliation.

3. Affirm the policies guaranteeing free speech to faculty in the UT Board of Trustees Policy.

4. Establish clear UT Board of Trustees policies for any termination.

   *You may view the nearly 1,300 electronic and paper signees here