Key points
- A former Ball State University employee was fired after a private Facebook post about conservative activist Charlie Kirk's death was amplified online.
- She filed a First Amendment lawsuit against the university president, which was recently settled for $225,000.
- The case raised questions about whether a public employee can be fired for disruption caused by third parties amplifying their private speech.
- The settlement leaves the central legal question unresolved in Indiana, though a similar case in South Dakota resulted in a professor's reinstatement.
MUNCIE, IN — In the months after her firing from Ball State University, Suzanne Swierc's days were “kind of a blur.”
She said she couldn’t get out of bed. She cried constantly and had to increase her dose of antidepressants. Eventually, a routine, a way of getting through the everyday, emerged.
Wake up, make a cup of coffee, tend to her 14-year-old lab-golden mix, Larson, then start the New York Times Crossword in her living room. It was here, seated on her couch, looking out a large picture window, that she’d begin every day.
What reduced her day to this was a single Facebook post. Swierc made the post while at home, off the clock, about the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Within hours, her post had been screenshot by an unknown person, combined with her Ball State University faculty photo and shared across social media.
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