UA Little Rock law professor terminated for comments on Charlie Kirk death

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — An Arkansas law professor has been dismissed from her position after making comments on the recent death of a conservative political activist.

Last month, the UA Little Rock Bowen School of Law announced that they had suspended one of its professors with pay after the employee made comments related to the death of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. 

In a post made online, Bowen School of Law professor, Felicia Branch, criticized Kirk’s ideology, and referred to the late podcaster as “evil.” She also said that they would not “pull back from celebrating.” 

Branch scrutinized Kirk for inflicting what they referred to as “his branch of evil” and pointed to Kirk’s advocacy of guns as being a contributing factor to his death. 

The post from Branch criticized a controversial statement that previously Kirk made about gun deaths in America and how some casualties are “worth it” to retain the Second Amendment right.

“You will never live in a society when you have an armed citizenry and you won’t have a single gun death. That is nonsense. It’s drivel,” said Kirk. “I think it’s worth it. I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights. That is a prudent deal. It is rational. Nobody talks like this. They live in a complete alternate universe.”

In response to the quote mentioned, Branch said “after all – a few deaths a year due to gun violence is the price we have to pay to have our other right. His. Words.”

Branch joined the Bowen School of Law faculty in July 2025, and she both directed and taught in the law school’s Low Income Taxpayer Clinic.

After learning of the comments made by Branch, Arkansas lawmakers including Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Lieutenant Governor Leslie Rutledge, and Attorney General Tim Griffin called on the University of Arkansas Little Rock to take action. 

Gov. Sanders referred to the comments as “unacceptable” and insisted that the school fire the professor over the comments.

“An Arkansas law professor publicly celebrated the assassination of Charlie Kirk. Her comments are vile, disgusting, and unacceptable – she must be fired immediately,” Gov. Sanders said in an online statement. 

The post also caught the eyes of AG Tim Griffin and Lieutenant Gov. Leslie Rutledge, who also called for the firing of the professor over the comments made online about Kirk.

Bowen School of Law Chancellor Christina Drale responded to the situation by putting out a statement to the campus community where she alerted them that she was aware of the comments made by the professor. 

Chancellor Drale shared that the university supports the right to freedom of expression but that she opposes “violent rhetoric in the strongest of terms.” 

The chancellor stated that she feels the comments made do not reflect the values of the Bowen School of Law, and as a result, the professor was suspended with pay on September 16, 2025 while an investigation was conducted.

In a letter sent to Branch, officials with the Bowen School of Law stated the investigation “involved a review of the posts, which celebrated the death of Charlie Kirk, equated people mourning his death to members of the Ku Klux Klan burning crosses, stated that you hoped Mr. Kirk was “restless in hell,” and used a vulgar acronym to imply that Mr. Kirk had “f—ed around and found out” by being shot—a crime that, according to you, made the world “a little more balanced.” 

It went on to say that the investigation also involved, “an interview where [Branch] confirmed that [Branch] wrote and posted the foregoing messages, in addition to messages you posted on subsequent days — while on paid administrative leave pending investigation – challenging the Governor’s and the Attorney General’s criticisms of you and insisting on your position.”

The letter sent to Branch also mentioned the American Association of Law Schools Statement of Good Practices by Law Professors in the Discharge of their Ethical and Professional Responsibilities, adopted by the Bowen School of Law.

It addressed how faculty at the Bowen School of Law are held to “the highest standards of ethics and professionalism” and that Branch’s social media posts violated the standards set by the law school.

Ultimately, the letter which was sent on September 24, 2025, stated that Branch was dismissed from her position with UA Little Rock effective immediately.

Branch was given five business days following the date of the notice to seek a review of the dismissal.

On October 9, 2025, a panel of the UA Little Rock Faculty Appeals Council met to hear an appeal from Branch.

The following day, Chancellor Drale received the panel’s statement which disagreed with the decision to terminate Branch, and the chair expressed that “majority of the panelists considered your social-media posts to be a mistake, but believed a warning would have been more appropriate.”

However, after a review of the record and applicable policies, Chancellor Drale ultimately decided that she would continue to uphold Dean Crawford’s decision to dismiss Branch.

A letter informing Branch of the decision stated in part:

“In his notice of dismissal, Dean Crawford explains that your social media posts caused significant disruption to the efficient operation of the Bowen School of Law and that your actions constituted a serious violation of the professional standards expected by the Bowen Law School and the Board of Trustees.

In your statement to Dean Crawford regarding your suspension, your argument appears to center on two arguments: 1) you were speaking as a private citizen, not as a representative of a public institution, and 2) your posts did not cause a disruption because the direct responses to your social media posts were relatively low. Your claim is that third parties caused the disruption.

As you pointed out in your statement, your speech must be balanced against UA Little Rock’s interests in preventing disruption to the efficient operations of the institution. I am not persuaded by the argument that low volume traffic on your personal social media accounts, initial complaints by high-profile government officials in response to your social media posts, or even the existence of some positive feedback, negate the overall disruptive effect of your statements. The statements themselves produced the disruption, which included reactions through multiple channels and multiple audiences to your messages.”

The letter also went on to mention that Branch’s social media-posts had been disruptive to the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinic (which Branch taught in), as well as the Bowen School of Law and UA Little Rock.

“Moreover, given your insistence that your messages were wholly unproblematic, I don’t believe that a warning or reprimand would convince you otherwise or prevent future occurrences,” said Chancellor Drale in the letter. 

She added that there essentially was no pathway where Branch could continue her position at the Bowen Law School without compromising trust and confidence.

“Therefore, I am upholding the decision to dismiss you for cause from your non-tenure track position, under Board Policy 405.4.III.D, this decision is final,” said Chancellor Drale.