MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) — A former associate dean at Middle Tennessee State University is suing MTSU President Dr. Sidney McPhee and another employee after she said she was punished for "engaging in constitutionally protected speech."
The lawsuit comes nearly two months after Laura Sosh-Lightsy, a long-time employee who served as Associate Dean of Student Care and Conduct at MTSU, was terminated for social media posts she made after Charlie Kirk's murder.
In the suit, Sosh-Lightsy claims she was fired after Matthew Hurtt, a former MTSU student and Republican Party operative, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) used their positions to pressure MTSU to retaliate against her. Sosh-Lighsty said MTSU caved to the political pressure, firing her less than four hours after she made the comments on her private Facebook page.
On Sept. 10, the day of Kirk's murder, Sosh-Lightsy made a series of posts on her private page, with one stating, "Looks like ol' Charlie spoke his fate into existence. Hate begets hate. ZERO sympathy."
Then, minutes later, the suit shows she made her second Facebook post, which read: "Yep. Hate begets hate. Still no sympathy. You get back what you put into the world tenfold."
According to the court filing, one of Sosh-Lightsy's Facebook friends—identified as Hurtt, who now works as a political operative for the Republican Party in Virginia—began sharing screenshots of Sosh-Lightsy's private posts concerning Kirk's murder on his X account.
Then, Blackburn reposted one of Hurtt's X posts, calling for MTSU to remove Sosh-Lightsy from her position at the university. Just minutes after Blackburn's post, Sosh-Lightsy reportedly received a call from Dr. McPhee's and was terminated from MTSU.
The suit reports McPhee posted the following statement minutes after his phone call with Sosh-Lightsy. A letter from Dr. Danny Kelley, Interim Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students for MTSU, reportedly stated that Sosh-Lightsy was terminated for her posts about Kirk's murder, which caused a "disruption and interference with University operations."
However, the court filing notes there is no evidence that there was any disruption to MTSU classes or student events on Sept. 10 based on the plaintiff's posts made on her private Facebook page.
In addition, Sosh-Lightsy mentioned that a red banner regarding her termination ran across the homepage of university's website, which is typically used for campus emergencies. She claimed that within her two decades of service, she doesn't recall ever seeing the red-alert banner used to announce the firing of an employee.
The suit goes on to state that the university didn't issue a red-alert banner or public statement when Nic Woodley, former director of player personnel for the MTSU football team, was arrested for allegedly exposing his private parts to a teenager at a Target store in Murfreesboro. Woodley was reportedly allowed to resign his employment.
Sosh-Lightsy said the handling of her termination caused her to receive "dozens of harassing and threatening" messages via email, Facebook Messenger, calls and even mail. She added she filed a police report with the Murfreesboro Police Department on Sept. 12, concerning the harassment, including at least one death threat.
According to the lawsuit, Sosh-Lightsy is requesting a jury trial, MTSU to pay all attorney fees and that the university declare that they violated the First Amendment.
No additional information was released.
from WKRN News 2 https://ift.tt/ictP1Dk
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