Overview

• U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier granted a temporary restraining order requiring the University of South Dakota to reinstate tenured art professor Phillip Michael Hook and pause his termination pending an Oct. 8 hearing.
• The judge concluded Hook spoke as a citizen on a matter of public concern and noted the university failed to produce evidence that his post disrupted operations.
• Hook’s Sept. 10 private Facebook post called Kirk a “hate spreading Nazi,” which he deleted within hours and apologized for, after which state officials including Gov. Larry Rhoden and House Speaker Jon Hansen publicly pressed for his dismissal.
• University and Board of Regents officials reported receiving hundreds of complaints after the post; the court order makes Hook’s reinstatement retroactive to Sept. 12.
• The decision lands as educators in Indiana, Iowa and South Carolina sue over discipline for their social‑media comments on Kirk’s killing, testing First Amendment protections for public‑sector employees.