Last month, a social media post by a University of South Dakota professor about the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk moved college officials to terminate his position.
However, USD officials have reversed course and stopped working to fire Art Professor Michael Hook, and he has been reinstated.
Hook had filed a lawsuit saying his statement on Kirk was protected free speech by the First Amendment. In a late September hearing observed by 50 people, a federal judge in Sioux Falls granted a temporary order to halt his termination.
USD in a release on Friday said Hook apologized for his post, in which the professor said Kirk was a “hate-spreading Nazi.”
Among those initially saying Hook should be fired was South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden.
