Ball State University Settles Lawsuit Over Firing Tied to Charlie Kirk Post

A former Ball State University employee will receive $225,000 to settle a federal lawsuit alleging her termination violated free-speech protections, the woman's attorneys said Tuesday. The American Civil Liberties Union announced the settlement in a federal lawsuit it filed last year on behalf of Suzanne Swierc against Ball State University President Geoffrey Mearns.

Swierc worked as director of health promotion and advocacy at the university's Muncie, Indiana campus before she was fired last September.

State cited Swierc's private Facebook post about Kirk as the sole reason for her termination, saying it caused "significant disruption" to the campus. Swierc's attorneys said her Facebook page's privacy settings walled off her posts from the general public, but someone took a screen shot of her comments that was shared widely online.

" "The First Amendment does not allow government institutions to retaliate in those circumstances, and this settlement reflects that," Pactor said in a statement.

Mearns defended firing Swierc in a statement sent Tuesday to campus leaders, which a Ball State spokesperson shared with The Associated Press. Mearns said backlash over Swierc's post threatened to harm the school's student enrollment and fundraising.

He said the settlement's "modest monetary payment" to Swierc was substantially less than fighting her lawsuit would have cost. " Ball State's president said Swierc's post resulted in a flood of outraged phone calls and emails to the university. Some warned they would withhold donations and at least one parent said she planned to withdraw her children from the school.

Some callers threatened violence, Mearns said. "The reaction was extraordinarily damaging to our University's reputation and image, and it was exceptionally disruptive to our mission and our people," Mearns said in his statement.