University of Alberta law professor put on leave amid review of online comments made after Charlie Kirk's death

A law professor at the University of Alberta has been placed on non-disciplinary leave while the university conducts a review of online comments made in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder.

Law students were notified about the leave in an email from faculty dean, Fiona Kelly. However, the faculty member has not been identified by the university. Instead, Kelly wrote that there have “also been threats targeting faculty, staff and student groups.”

Due to “the violent nature” of the attack on Kirk and the fact it happened on a university campus, she writes, the administration seeks to ensure the safety of faculty, staff and students “particularly those who are the targets of online threats and vitriol.”

The university plans to monitor the situation as it evolves.

Kirk was killed on Sept. 10. During the aftermath of the killing, a U of A law professor who has described themself as “the first openly transfeminine clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada,” Florence Ashley , posted on social media app, Bluesky, about the death.

Specifically, there is a reference in the post to a New York Times column that praised Kirk as an effective practitioner of persuasion: Charlie Kirk was practicing politics the right way .

Columnist Ezra Klein wrote on Sept. 11: “The foundation of a free society is the ability to participate in politics without fear of violence. To lose that is to risk losing everything. Charlie Kirk — and his family — just lost everything. As a country, we came a step closer to losing everything, too.

Klein continued: “You can dislike much of what Kirk believed and the following statement is still true: Kirk was practicing politics in exactly the right way. He was showing up to campuses and talking with anyone who would talk to him.”

Prof. Ashley — who has been criticized previously for provocative social media posts — responded to Klein’s column: “You do not, in fact, ever have to hand it to the Nazis. I utterly do not care for any ‘virtues’ that someone may perceive in them.”

In a subsequent post, Ashley suggests that the point of the first one was not to call Kirk a Nazi. Instead, it was a reference to an internet meme that it is not necessary to “hand it to them.”

It reads: “ “Are you saying Charlie Kirk is a Nazi?” No, I’m making an allusion to this meme:” The post shows a photo of an alleged ISIL member, with a the meme that “…you do not, under any circumstances, ‘gotta hand it to them.'”

The website Know Your Meme explains that this particular meme is used as a joke to make fun of a poster who appears to have praised a villainous person or organization.

However, who Ashley means by “them” remains unexplained. Meanwhile, the university has not identified Ashley as the person who has been placed on leave.

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.