'The safety of our students, faculty, and staff remains our top priority, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely'
A University of Alberta law professor, placed on non-disciplinary leave following social media comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk, has been reinstated after a university review.
Following the Sept. 10, 2025 death of the conservative activist, the university “became aware of concerning online comments involving members of our community,” it said in a statement.
“A faculty member was placed on non-disciplinary leave while a review was conducted by the university’s safety and legal teams.”
That review has now concluded, and Florence Ashley has fully returned to their duties after it was determined there is no imminent risk associated with this incident, said the university.
“The safety of our students, faculty, and staff remains our top priority, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
Concerns about non-disciplinary leave
However, Ashley, who uses they/them pronouns, told Canadian HR Reporter they were not informed of the university’s concerns until they were placed on non-disciplinary leave.
The professor further clarified that the university does not have a policy on social media posts, saying, “I am not sure they could have a meaningful one given contractual and governmental protections of academic freedom.”
The university’s “Statement on Freedom of Expression” says it “remains committed to free expression in all forms of communication, including non-violent protest and dissent. The university is a place of free and open inquiry in all matters, and all members of the university community have the broadest possible latitude to speak, write, listen, view, challenge, profess, and learn.”
Ashley also said that concerns about social media posts are being exaggerated.
“This was part of a large-scale public campaign to investigate and harass progressive academics in the hopes of getting them fired. It did not arise organically; someone went out of their way to go on BlueSky, look through my posts, and send them to right-wing Twitter users so that they could drum up outrage.”
A University of Toronto professor was also placed on leave in September after making a controversial comment on social media in the aftermath of the assassination of Kirk.
Professor cites academic freedom
Ashley emphasized the importance of academic freedom and institutional support: “Given the historical moment we are in, I think it would be wise for any employer to brush up on freedom of expression and academic freedom law, as well as review and revise their policies to ensure that they stand behind their employees.
“The fact that someone disagrees or dislikes a post doesn’t mean that it exceeds freedom of expression or academic freedom—quite the contrary. This is especially critical of universities, whose existence and social value thoroughly turns on the protection of academic freedom.”
As for their specific post, Ashley claims they did not call Kirk a Nazi: “I was drawing an analogy based on a meme that is well-known in my BlueSky audience,” they said.
“The idea that one cannot call someone a Nazi in an era of rising fascism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia is extremely concerning to me. Preventing people from naming and criticizing hateful and fascist views is a critical step on the road to fascism, and history has shown us time and time again where that leads.”
University review and reinstatement
In an article for the Centre for Free Expression, the professor described being “shocked” at being placed on leave for comments “that unquestionably fall within the scope of academic freedom and freedom of expression.”
The article outlined the university’s strong stated protections for academic staff and questioned why the administration would “bow to antidemocratic pressures by placing a professor on leave without their request, consent, or involvement.”
Ashley also said the university’s academic staff collective agreement “protects academic staff rights to speak frankly on matters of public importance, as part of their academic freedom.”
