Carnegie Mellon University says it is reviewing “hostile and threatening social media posts” by professor Uju Anya after she invoked “Kirkmas” and “Kirk Mubarak” around the first anniversary of Charlie Kirks assassination.
Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated Sept. 10, 2025, while speaking at during his American Comeback Tour.
The Pennsylvania university also told Fox News Digital Friday that Anya is currently on voluntary professional leave and is not teaching courses on campus during the current academic year.
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“Dr. Uju Anya is currently on voluntary professional leave from the university and is not teaching courses on our campus this academic year,” a media relations spokesperson at Carnegie Mellon University told Fox News Digital in a statement.
“We are deeply concerned by recent hostile and threatening social media posts by Dr. Anya and are reviewing this matter closely,” the spokesperson added. “To be clear: These posts incorrectly imply our university’s endorsement and are contrary to our community standards and values as well as our commitment to fostering a safe, respectful and welcoming campus community.”
The university confirmed to Fox News Digital that Anyas voluntary leave was already in effect.
Anya, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon, wrote on X around the anniversary of the assassination, “They began already, and it aint even Kirkmas kirk mubarak, yall!”
Her X account now appears to be deleted.
Another post from Anya appeared to read, “Die first, white man, and then ask yourself why I am dancing.”
On her bio page for Carnegie Mellon University, Anya is called “a scholar of language learning and Black experiences in multilingualism,” whose “primary fields of inquiry include critical applied linguistics, critical sociolinguistics and critical discourse studies, with a focus on how race, gender, sexual and social class identities intersect with language learning.”
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According to the website, her research “explores the multilingual journeys of African American students and how these experiences inform identity formation in new language learning contexts.”
She is also the author of “Racialized Identities in Second Language Learning: Speaking Blackness in Brazil,” and has taught courses including “Race, Gender, Sexuality and Social Class in Second Language Learning,” “Language Diversity and Cultural Identity,” “Theories of Language Learning and Teaching” “Hip Hop and Funk Discourses of Black Womanhood in Brazil and the U.S.,” and “Language Progra
