A University of Tennessee professor sacked over a Facebook comment about Charlie Kirk's assassination will collect roughly £1.5 million ($1.9 million) to end a First Amendment lawsuit that reached into donor money and Republican political pressure.
Tamar Shirinian, a former assistant professor of anthropology at the Knoxville campus, sued the university's most senior leaders after she was placed on leave and later dismissed. The University of Tennessee System Board of Trustees approved the payout on 30 June 2026, though the deal does not return her to the classroom.
