Charlie Kirk lecture lands Valencia College adjunct on paid 2-week suspension

A Valencia College adjunct political science professor has returned from a two-week paid leave after he led a fiery discussion on Charlie Kirk’s death that was loud enough for the school’s security to be called, records show.

After Valencia College Security knocked on the door, the adjunct, William Edmonds, proclaimed to his students, “You see, freedom of speech!”

Edmonds was put on administrative leave after the Sept. 15 incident and returned to work Monday.

“We want to emphasize that Mr. Edmonds was not put on leave for the content of his statements or for expressing his personal opinions, but because he was using inappropriate language, shouting so loudly that he disrupted operations in nearby offices, and exhibiting behavior that negatively impacted the learning environment in his classroom,” Valencia spokeswoman Linda Shrieves said.

Edmonds, who did not respond to a request for comment, has taught at Valencia since 2016. He is paid $2,331 for a 3-credit class. He is currently teaching four classes this semester.

The situation at the Orlando state college unfolded as health and fitness professor Jen Katz held office hours and began to feel increasingly uncomfortable and nervous.

Around 10:15 a.m., she heard yelling and a man yell, “What the f***!” That’s according to a written statement from Katz to the school.

“I cracked open the door and heard the yelling louder. I could not make out all of the statements, but some of what I heard was ‘being shot for having an opinion’ and mocking someone crying about ‘now I lost my job’ and it became clear it was a professor lecturing his students,” Katz said in a statement.

“I was surprised to see that the door to the classroom was closed, because he was so loud that I had assumed the door must have been propped open.”

About 15 minutes later, the boisterous voice continued on and Katz asked permission from her boss to move to another office.

As she left, she heard the professor “still yelling” and saying something about “trans people five years ago.”

Her associate dean told her to call campus security because “it did not sound like a normal situation.”

When campus security knocked on Edmonds’ door, they said he was clearly lecturing about Kirk’s death “and appeared visibly upset by the topic,” according to the security incident report.

Valencia’s security told Edmonds about the noise complaint and asked him to tone it down. Edmonds promised to lower his voice. Once inside his classroom, he said, “You see, freedom of speech” in a “loud voice,” according to school records

During an administrative review, Valencia College Humanities and Foreign Language Dean Eric Wallman asked security to return to Edmonds’ room a few minutes later and tell the students class was officially canceled, the security report said.

Katz then questioned whether she did the right thing to report the disruption.

“I would never want to infringe on another professor’s class and it is understood that is not my intent here. This was just abnormal and in my five years of being in that office, I’ve never had anything disruptive like to the point of preventing me from concentrating on my work,” Katz said in her statement.

“I have no idea who the professor is and hope this causes no animosity.”

Valencia interviewed students afterward. One said Edmonds did swear but then corrected himself to say, “frick.”

“While one student did not feel the behavior disrupted their learning, others shared that it made them hesitant to participate in the class further. Several students clarified that their concern was not with the content of your message, but with the delivery and how it aligned with the classroom environment,” according to the notice of disciplinary action in Edmonds’ personnel file from human resources.

“Some students described the class as unstructured and unpredictable, which contributed to their discomfort.”

Edmonds acknowledged that his tone wasn’t appropriate for class, the HR notice said. The report reminded Edmonds that his job is to foster a “respectful and structured learning environment where all students are able to engage in thoughtful discussion.”

Edmonds’ suspension comes after more than 145 people around the country have been fired or disciplined for their comments after the conservative activist’s death, according to The New York Times.

The full content of Edmonds’ lecture is unclear, though the HR notice said Edmonds admitted it was “a passionate discussion about the First Amendment and recent current events.”

One security official overheard Edmonds say, “We need to understand our rights and responsibilities from both the Democratic and Republican parties, especially in light of the political climate regarding the events that happened last week.”

Edmonds has mixed reviews from anonymous students online over the years. Several wrote that he could be very passionate and had strong convictions. “Is very … ‘opinionated’ to say the least,” one student wrote.

If problems persist, Edmonds could be at risk of losing his job, according to the written reprimand in his personnel file.

The list of Floridians facing backlash from their Kirk comments include teachers and a biologist at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Valencia has said no college employees have been fired since Kirk’s death following an earlier Florida Politics question. 

Meanwhile, a Valencia College leader and Gov. Ron DeSantis have both warned about speaking out against Kirk’s death. Kirk was shot and killed Sept. 10 at a Utah campus. Tyler Robinson, 22, has been charged with aggravated murder.

Kirk, a divisive figure in a polarized political climate, ran Turning Point USA, which published a Professor Watchlist of educators accused of liberal bias. Some of those names on the list said their careers were ruined and they received death threats afterward.

“People who are on the Professor Watchlist say it has eroded their academic freedom and chilled their speech. Some have compared it to the McCarthy-era blacklist,” according to a Daytona News-Journal report.

DeSantis has called the reaction to Kirk’s death “troubling” and said “it’s taking political disagreements and really creating a toxic atmosphere.”

“To have teachers reveling this across the country, to have nurses reveling this, to have people that are in major arteries of our society expressing glee … that was really a gut punch,” DeSantis said at a Sept. 29 press conference.

“Now, you’re not going to get put in jail on the First Amendment. But can we as a society and me as a Governor can look and say, ‘You know what? I’ve got young kids. Do I want a teacher in the classroom whose response to that is to glorify it and celebrate it? No, I don’t want that person teaching our kids.’ And we have a right to make that clear.”

Two days before Edmonds’ fiery class, Valencia College sent a statement on social media from its politically connected Board Chair Michael Sasso, a DeSantis ally.

“It has been brought to my attention that a former employee of Valencia College made abhorrent public remarks about the murder of Charlie Kirk,” the school wrote on X, quoting Sasso.

“That individual does not work for Valencia College, but you can rest assured that if she did work in the Free State of Florida, immediate action would be taken. This type of behavior is abhorrent and will not be tolerated.”

The statement came after a person’s Facebook comment attracted attention for saying, “Unfortunately, non violence does not end fascism.”