Dive Brief:

• On Wednesday, the Kansas Board of Regents unanimously approved a policy allowing the firing of faculty or staff members at state schools over improper social media posts.
• Examples given include speech that could incite violence, discloses confidential information, or “is contrary to the best interests of the employer."
• The regents had established a working group to make recommendations to a proposed social media policy, and the group recommended taking disciplinary actions out of the policy — but the regents rejected that recommendation.

Dive Insight:

By now, the arguments are pretty well-worn in this case: Opponents say the policy will have a chilling effect on the free speech on Kansas campuses and that it will hurt professor recruitment. The policy was developed following a Kansas University professor's extremely inappropriate tweet against the National Rifle Association tweet in September, following the Navy Yard shooting in Washington, D.C. Under the new policy, the CEO of a university or their delegate can take progressively harsher measures of discipline against the social media offender, including suspension, dismissal, and termination.