DES MOINES, Iowa — It has been two weeks since the murder of Charlie Kirk at a campus in Utah.

Since September 10, the Iowa Board of Regents instructed the state’s three public universities to investigate staff members who allegedly made posts on social media in relation to the murder. The investigation involves suspending a staff member, conducting an investigation and terminating the staff member if the university finds the individual violated regent policy.

The Iowa Board of Regents made comments last week stating that the goal is to not impede on staff’s First Amendment rights, while acknowledging that doesn’t mean a right to employment. The investigations surround the board’s Chapter 4.2 policy, which involves Freedom of Expression and employee personal social media accounts. The policy states that the board is obligated to act to prevent harm to a university if posts on personal social media fall under certain circumstances.

WHO 13 News asked Governor Reynolds about the investigations at an education press conference on Wednesday. Her full response is below when asked what outcome she wants to see in the investigations:

“I sent a letter to them [Board of Regents]. I think they indicated how I felt about that. I’ve also talked to Regent Bates as well. First of all, I just, my thoughts and prayers, and I can say thoughts and prayers, go out to Erika Kirk, her children, parents and sister of Charlie Kirk. Anybody, anybody that celebrates the execution of a human being, it’s disgusting and unconscionable and it’s just not acceptable. Political violence should never be accepted, period. Period. End of story. And if we have discovered through the investigation that they (staff members) did, in fact, celebrate taking another human life, you know, shutting down free speech, then they should, they should be fired. And we’ll wait and see what happens but they should be fired. It has a chilling effect on those that don’t, you know, it says if you don’t agree with what I agree on then you’re going to be silenced. So it’s unacceptable, just unacceptable,” said Reynolds.

In a follow up question, Reynolds was asked about if she wants to pursue policy in the 2026 legislative session to address staff at public schools who made posts about the assassination. Oskaloosa Community Schools terminated a teacher who made crude posts about Charlie Kirk.

“No, I think it’s already in place. They have a school board, so they have what they need to act. If you look, I think there’s, in regards to this, you know free speech is the cornerstone of our society, but there are consequences and repercussions to taking it too far,” said Reynolds. “And I think, you know, not only is there an Iowa Supreme Court case that identifies with that, that actually addresses this, but there’s also a U.S. Supreme Court case. So they have, I think, what they need to take action and I’m sure there will be lawsuits. But, you know, sometimes that’s okay too because that gives us case law and it helps us better understand what those parameters look like.”