Editor’s note: A Sept. 15 statement from FAU College Democrats has been added.
FAU placed a tenured faculty member on administrative leave pending an investigation after allegedly making comments about the shooting of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University.
University President Adam Hasner announced Sept. 13 that a faculty member made repeated social media comments referencing Kirk’s assassination. Still, he did not identify the individual or provide details of the posts. The tenured faculty member in question is Karen Leader, an associate professor of art history and faculty associate in the Center for Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, according to a recent Sun Sentinel article.
The article reported that Leader reposted content from other users on her X page that described Kirk’s statements as racist, anti-gay, and anti-woman. Leader told the Sun Sentinel that Hasner’s statement was inaccurate, and that she never posted anything specifically about Kirk’s killing, only about some of his public statements.
Leader declined to comment to the University Press. Her X account was private at the time of publication, with “opinions mine” in her bio. Hasner mentioned in the statement that while certain state protections exist for tenured faculty, the individual was placed on leave while the university investigates.
“Our focus remains on our academic community’s responsibility to promote civil discourse, conduct healthy debate, and treat one another with respect. This applies to all students, faculty, and staff, no matter their political leanings,” wrote Hasner in the statement.
FAU College Democrats reported that Leader is the faculty advisor for the student organization. On Sept. 15, the campus chapter criticized the university’s decision to suspend Leader for reposting content, stating that she did not comment on Kirk’s assassination. The statement said her posts are protected free speech under university policy and the First Amendment.
“In the absence of threats, hatred, or harassment, it is unjust and un-American for university leadership and FAU President Adam Hasner to retaliate against faculty for their speech,” read the statement from the FAU College Democrats.
This story is still developing and will be updated as new information becomes available.
Michael Cook is the Editor-in-Chief for the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected].
LFT • Sep 15, 2025 at 6:11 pm
NEWSFLASH: art IS political. Anyone who says otherwise is delusional. Dr. Leader is an educator who demands actual effort from her students and I think that’s where people take true umbrage with her. She was an excellent faculty advisor to FAU NOW and she empowers her students to take charge in their educational endeavors. It’s always freedom of speech until someone says something you don’t agree with. We know FAUs history and we see it’s current trajectory. Censorship and compliance to bigotry have no place in higher education, especially when education in general is currently under attack.
Lauren • Sep 15, 2025 at 8:53 pm
A previous writer said that “education was under attack.” Alert: it should be under attack. Schools are failing in K-12 and colleges have become a bastion of anti-intellectualism. I attended colleges, both private and public, where there was a broad spectrum of freedom of speech. Ayan Hirsi Ali was not allowed to speak at Brandeis over female genital mutilation. Why, she certainly is an authority. I never liked Robert Mapplethorpe’s art, but I agreed with his intention to display his art because of the importance of artistic expression. I don’t have to like someone’s speech to want to learn more from them. That’s what learners do. Unfortunately, colleges suppress freedom of speech and allow speech in favor of conformity. Dr. Leader was out of line teaching her opinions and not her subject matter. An oh, BTW, I have been a professor in courses such as American Government, American History, as well as Diversity in America. As a former Dean of Social Science and then Dean of Research I also appreciate those who use primary sources and other quality sources. I don’t pontificate on topics where I don’t have a firm basis (i.e. physics). No one wants a person who hectors them on their ideology and then has the ultimate power over them–their grade in her class. She should have learned how to adopt the socratic method that would allow for learning. Instead, she settled for ideology over art.
Ruvy • Sep 15, 2025 at 2:36 pm
Had her in class she would shove her ideologies down your throat. She made hers out to be the “reliable” source and saw a student practically debate her and the teacher said “your looking too into it” as in her sources on the internet isn’t on par to her. The first question was “why do we not talk about black people owning black slaves.” Following, “what makes the SUM any different than the SUM of kapo’s”. She would try to twist her words on the student and the student said some not all. As for sources, she learned from an actual Jewish teacher, who has a Jewish wife that family tree went through the holocaust and went to Germany to those camps and talked to some Germans and the student even talk to a relative survivor. But the teacher said she’s looking to into it. What’s worse we spend most of the class time talking about politics and she gets them to pull them out and admits on them getting them to say the things that she knows she can’t say out of their mouths. Even admits it in class. She brain washes students. The whole point there is a history art class, shouldn’t be politics, it would be an hour on her with politics during class time. Also she said “he we don’t speak of” A.K.A Donald trump but she brings him up all the time.
Lauren • Sep 15, 2025 at 5:49 pm
Actually, she teaches Art History and other than the history of art she is not protected by most definitions of Academic Freedom. Academic Freedom protects a professor in their subject matter, but not when they venture into other topics. Some may differ with that definition of Academic freedom, but please review the postulates before commenting.
Donald James Menter • Sep 15, 2025 at 10:54 am
She does not belong teaching, this is not the type of person our youth need to be listening too, she should be terminated!
Hiram Fever • Sep 15, 2025 at 10:38 am
Has anyone investigated reports of incoming death threats against any school personnel or financial donors identified in any publicly available records?