A university official emailed FAU English professor Kate Polak on Monday notifying her that she had been placed on paid administrative leave while the school investigates her social media activity.
Polak said she remains confused by the administration’s reasoning for the suspension, adding that she made multiple attempts to get answers from officials but received none. The University Press obtained screenshots from a student who requested anonymity, showing comments from Polak’s Instagram Threads account on other users’ posts about the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University.
Polak acknowledged the comments from her account, saying she did not write the actual post but replied in the public comments. She emphasized that she never encouraged violence and argued the comments are protected by the First Amendment, which she believes the university is violating. She said that anyone who does not believe these actions from the university is a violation of freedom of speech is “un-American.”…