Santos v. Howse (Eastern Florida State College)

Summary

Erika Santos, a grant accountant at Eastern Florida State College in Brevard County, Florida, shared several posts on her private Facebook account on September 10, 2025, the same day conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on a college campus. The posts discussed Kirk’s well-documented views on sexual assault, abortion, and school shootings—issues of public concern that Santos commented on in her personal capacity.

On September 18, the college’s Human Resources office received an anonymous letter containing screenshots of Santos’s posts. She was suspended without pay that day while the college conducted an investigation. Over the next month, the review found that her posts were private and did not disrupt campus operations. On October 16, 2025, Santos was terminated, with the college describing her speech as repugnant, divisive, political in nature, and undermining public confidence in the institution.

On November 13, 2025, Santos filed a federal lawsuit against the college’s Board of Trustees and its Associate Vice President of Human Resources. The complaint alleged that her private, non-threatening Facebook posts were protected political speech unrelated to her job duties and that her termination violated her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The lawsuit also claimed the college engaged in content-based and viewpoint discrimination, noting other employees had made inflammatory political posts without discipline. Santos is seeking damages, injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees. The lawsuit is part of a broader national trend in which public-sector employees at colleges and universities have faced discipline or termination for social media posts related to Charlie Kirk’s assassination.