US EditionMSU-Northern professor on leave after Charlie Kirk social media posts
Balemba-Brownlee was placed on leave after criticizing Charlie Kirk post-assassination and faces death threats; a 2023 Montana law protects her job over social media speech.
- On Wednesday, September 24, 2025, Montana State University-Northern confirmed associate professor Samantha Balemba-Brownlee was placed on leave after social media posts about Charlie Kirk and has faced death threats.
- On her private Facebook page, Balemba-Brownlee posted shortly after Kirk's death, calling him misogynistic and racist and saying she hoped his children grow up differently.
- State law passed in 2023 prevents firing for social media posts, but conservatives on social media pressured MSU-Northern while Indigenous students reported feeling unsafe.
- The campus faculty union sought help from the Montana Federation of Public Employees, and MSU-Northern said it will evaluate the matter through human-resources processes after a staff letter on Tuesday, September 23, 2025.
- Observers say the incident fits a national pattern of cases involving academics and follows the March 2024 directive from the Montana commissioner of higher education; the 2023 state law protects lawful social-media expression but allows exceptions for employer policy violations, Gov. Greg Gianforte noted.
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Questions of protected speech persist as MSU-Northern professor remains on leave for social media comments
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