Clarksville, TN – In a significant development involving academic freedom and due process, Austin Peay State University has agreed to pay $500,000 and reinstate a tenured theater professor who was fired following a social media post related to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Darren Michael, an associate professor of acting and directing who had served at the Tennessee institution since 2007, returned to his faculty position on December 30, 2025, marking the end of a contentious months-long dispute that raised questions about tenure protections, free speech, and institutional procedures at public universities.
