{"id":1086203,"date":"2021-12-05T10:28:59","date_gmt":"2021-12-05T15:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1086203"},"modified":"2021-12-05T10:29:01","modified_gmt":"2021-12-05T15:29:01","slug":"former-coach-fired-for-removing-blm-poster-claims-1a-rights-violated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-coach-fired-for-removing-blm-poster-claims-1a-rights-violated\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Coach Fired for Removing BLM Poster Claims 1A Rights Violated"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fformer-coach-fired-for-removing-blm-poster-claims-1a-rights-violated%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1086203&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">A former assistant coach for Illinois State University (ISU) has filed a lawsuit against the school\u2019s head football coach and athletic director, claiming his 1st Amendment rights were violated after removing a Black Lives Matter sign from his office door.<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, during the height of the BLM protests following the murder of George Floyd, ISU assistant coach Kurt Beathard returned from a temporary leave to find a BLM poster on his office door. When he replaced the poster with a message of his own \u2013&nbsp; \u201cAll Lives Matter to Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ\u201d \u2013 controversy ensued to the point that Beathard was terminated by&nbsp;head coach Brock Spack and then-athletic director Larry Lyons, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/breaking\/ct-kurt-beathard-sues-first-amendment-retaliation-illinois-state-university-20211203-vnthnnmvvbh5xkorgrhqhzdmbe-story.html\"><em>Chicago Tribune<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/people-react-after-learning-the-sentencing-of-former-minneapolis-picture-id1233654620\" alt=\"People react after learning the sentencing of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin outside the Hennepin County Government Center on June...\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>People react after learning the sentencing of former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin outside the Hennepin County Government Center on June 25, 2021 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. \u2013 Chauvin was sentenced to 22 and a half years in jail Friday for murdering African American George Floyd, a killing that sparked America\u2019s biggest demonstrations for racial justice in decades. \u201cThe sentence is not based on emotion or sympathy,\u201d said Judge Peter Cahill, handing down the term at a Minneapolis court after prosecutors sought a 30-year sentence. (Photo by Kerem Yucel \/ AFP) (Photo by KEREM YUCEL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Filed in a U.S. District Court last Tuesday,&nbsp;Beathard\u2019s lawsuit alleges that the firing amounted to retaliation and viewpoint discrimination at a public university.<\/p>\n<div class=\"crd clln--it\" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\" crd--cnt \">\n<div class=\"crd clln--it\" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\" crd--cnt \" readability=\"9.5\">\n<div class=\"crd clln--it\" data-type=\"text\" readability=\"19\">\n<div class=\" crd--cnt \" readability=\"15\">\n<p class=\" \">\u201cBeathard claims he was told he was fired because Spack did not like the direction of the offense,\u201d noted the Tribune. \u201cThe lawsuit claims Spack and Lyons terminated Beathard because \u2018he did not toe the party line regarding Black Lives Matter.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\" \">\u201cThe complaint also says that Beathard had the right to freely express his views as an employee of a public university,\u201d it added. \u201cThe suit states that Beathard set several records and that the team achieved national ranking with his offense in 2014 and 2015 and again in 2018 and 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\" \">The lawsuit further details that&nbsp;Beathard returned to campus fraught with tension stemming from the Black Lives Matter movement. Students continued to pressure the school\u2019s athletic department to take a harder stance on the issue. Head coach Spack allegedly called the situation \u201cfreaking nuts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\" \">Larry Lyons eventually retired from his position as athletic director after he said \u201cAll Redbirds Lives Matter\u201d during a Zoom meeting with student-athletes. Redbirds referred to a nickname of the school.<\/p>\n<div class=\" crd--cnt \" readability=\"11.5\">\n<div class=\"crd clln--it\" data-type=\"text\" readability=\"18\">\n<p>About two days after the Lyons\u2019 meeting, Beathard was approached by Spack, and he was asked to remove the sign he created from his door, according to the lawsuit. Beathard took the poster down that day. But a colleague of Beathard\u2019s shared a picture of the poster he recently took down. In response, some football players boycotted practice, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>A few days later, Beathard was fired.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"crd clln--it\" data-type=\"text\" readability=\"8\">\n<div class=\" crd--cnt \" readability=\"11\">\n<p class=\" \">Beathard said in the lawsuit he suffered tremendous economic and emotional distress due to the firing. His attorney, Doug Churdar, argued in a news release that a public university should not be regulating employee speech.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"crd clln--it\" data-type=\"text\" readability=\"8.5\">\n<div class=\" crd--cnt \" readability=\"12\">\n<p class=\" \">\u201cIt\u2019s come to this. If you put the government\u2019s message on your door, you keep your job,\u201d Churdar wrote. \u201cIf you replace it with your own message, you\u2019re fired. That\u2019s exactly what happened.<\/p>\n<p class=\" \"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/woman-holds-a-black-lives-matter-flag-during-an-event-in-remembrance-picture-id1233091052\" alt=\"Woman holds a Black Lives Matter flag during an event in remembrance of George Floyd and to call for justice for those who lost loved ones to the...\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"crd clln--it\" data-type=\"text\" readability=\"10.5\">\n<div class=\" crd--cnt \" readability=\"16\">\n<p class=\" \"><em>TOPSHOT \u2013 A woman holds a Black Lives Matter flag during an event in remembrance of George Floyd and to call for justice for those who lost loved ones to the police violence outside the Minnesota State Capitol on May 24, 2021 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Kerem Yucel \/ AFP) (Photo by KEREM YUCEL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\" \">\u201cThere\u2019s only one reason Beathard isn\u2019t offensive coordinator at ISU: he did not toe the party line on BLM,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A former assistant coach for Illinois State University (ISU) has filed a lawsuit against the school\u2019s head football coach and athletic director, claiming his 1st Amendment rights were violated after &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1086203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1086203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1086203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1086203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1086203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1086203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1086203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}