MTSU terminated former assistant dean of students and the Office of Student Care and Conduct, Laura Sosh-Lightsy, late Wednesday night, due to public Facebook comments she made following Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk’s death. Sidelines is following campus reactions. 

Matthew Hurtt, who originally posted the screenshots of Sosh-Lightsy’s Facebook posts on X, responded to a statement request from Sidelines this morning.

“While a student at MTSU, I faced political persecution from left-wing professors and administrators,” Hurtt said. “As someone who now helps college graduates find work in Washington, D.C., it’s important [that] students with a wide range of political views feel comfortable exploring and expressing those views on campus. Ms. Sosh-Lightsy’s role and her hateful political views likely had a chilling effect for conservative students on campus. I applaud President McPhee for acting swiftly.” Olivia Summers, news editor

MTSU students and student organizations had varying reactions to Charlie Kirk’s death.

Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old conservative influencer and close ally of President Donald Trump, was shot and killed on Wednesday, Sept. 10, during an event at Utah Valley University.

Trump announced Kirk’s death on his social media network, Truth Social, hours after news first broke that Kirk had been shot. Kirk left behind his wife and two children.

MTSU’s TurningPoint chapter made a statement on their Instagram page on Thursday afternoon.

“Turning Point USA at MTSU is appalled and deeply saddened by the events of yesterday afternoon,” the statement said. “Charlie Kirk was an American hero and a role model to many young students across the nation and world. He was a true American warrior, and we must continue his legacy. We must continue to defend freedom in America.”

MTSU College Republicans posted a statement to social media that said the violence against Kirk was encouraged by “provocative rhetoric” in liberal circles. Investigators have not released the shooter’s motive yet.

“Despite his passing, we must never forget his contributions to furthering conservative values and the fact that this culture war we are fighting is far from over,” the statement said.

Other students, though they may have differences with Kirk, condemned the violence.

For more of this story, read here.

MTSU terminated former assistant dean of students and the Office of Student Care and Conduct, Laura Sosh-Lightsy, late Wednesday night, due to public Facebook comments she made following Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk’s death. Sidelines is following campus reactions.

Jesse Welles, an Americana musician who was honored for Free Speech in Music at the Americana Music Association award show on Wednesday night, released a video on Thursday on his social media accounts of him playing a new song he wrote about the reactions to Charlie Kirk’s death.

Welles criticized the reactions of joy to the killing, singing that no violence should result in glee.

“You can’t hate the gun and love the gun that shot your rival,” Welles sang.

The song emphasized the importance of free speech, but reminded people to think about whether the death was of somebody they knew or if it was themselves.

“America aimless with the fire brand of resent,” he sang.

Welles previously has written songs about various political events around the world, including his most popular song, “War Isn’t Murder,” where he sings about how innocent people die in war, though the deaths are justified by governments. Jenene Grover, managing editor

MTSU’s director of Free Speech Center discusses assistant dean’s firing 

MTSU terminated former assistant dean of students and the Office of Student Care and Conduct, Laura Sosh-Lightsy, late Wednesday night, due to public Facebook comments she made following Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk’s death. Sidelines is following campus reactions. 

Ken Paulson, director of the Free Speech Center at MTSU, weighed in on the firing of former assistant dean of students and the Office of Student Care and Conduct, Laura Sosh-Lightsy, on Thursday morning, saying the termination was legal.  

Due to Sosh-Lightsy’s free speech undermining her position, MTSU didn’t restrict her First Amendment rights when terminating her, Paulson said. As an authority figure for disciplined students, her partisanship conflicted with her responsibilities. 

“Someone in that position is going to be pretty vulnerable when the university feels like they have become so polarizing that they can’t do their job anymore,” Paulson said. 

Ultimately, the nature of Sosh-Lightsy’s job factored into the decision, he said. 

“This is different than a faculty member who has academic freedom,” Paulson said. “It’s different from a custodian who would have no contact with students.” 

As MTSU has a long history of supporting the First Amendment, being recently named in the Top 15 of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression’s 2026 College Free Speech Rankings, Paulson believes the former dean’s firing will be a standalone event. 

“These were potentially inflammatory remarks made in the heat of an assassination on a college campus,” Paulson said. “I think that combination of factors led to her dismissal. I would be very much surprised if we saw anything like it in the future.” 

Before founding the Freedom of Speech Center in 2019, Paulson served as dean of the MTSU College of Media and Entertainment from 2013 to 2019.  

The center is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that strives to educate the public and press on the First Amendment and how it applies to current controversies. Brett Walker, co-sports editor