Finstad calls for MSU Mankato professor to resign over Charlie Kirk comments

MANKATO – A U.S. congressman is calling for the resignation of a tenured Minnesota college professor over social media posts about the commentator Charlie Kirk.

Rep. Brad Finstad, a Republican whose district includes Mankato, accused Kevin Parsneau, a political science professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato, of inflammatory comments and mocking Kirk’s death.

Kirk was assassinated Sept. 10 while speaking to students in Orem, Utah.

Finstad is calling on the Mankato school to demand the professor’s immediate resignation.

“While hundreds of young people gathered in Mankato to mourn Charlie Kirk and honor his legacy, they were forced to see their professor mock his murder. That is beyond unacceptable,” Finstad said in a statement Monday.

Parsneau wrote three expletive-laden posts last week about Kirk on the social media platform Threads.

In a thread calling for the Minnesota Vikings to honor Kirk, Parsneau responded: “Ignoring that racist POS is the only thing the Vikings did right Sunday.”

“Now you’re whining that they didn’t bring politics into it by noting some POS who died of the violence he promoted happening to others,” another post by Parsneau said.

Parsneau confirmed in a phone call Monday that he wrote the posts. He said he was frustrated after watching the Vikings lose to the Atlanta Falcons.

“You don’t think your offhand comments in the wake of a football game, your thoughts are going to end up as any kind of an issue,” Parsneau said.

Parsneau said he does not believe Kirk should have been killed, but argued that he has a right to disagree with the political commentator’s positions and with the idea that the Vikings should honor him.

“You can disagree with somebody and still think they shouldn’t have been shot,” Parsneau said.

Edward Inch, president of Minnesota State Mankato, called for students and staff to act with respect, while acknowledging the importance of freedom of speech.

As a public institution of higher education, we uphold “our responsibility to promote the free exchange of ideas — an essential part of academic life and civic engagement," he said in a letter to the campus community. “However, this exchange must always be conducted in a manner that enlightens and educates, without being disparaging or disrespectful of others.”

Inch’s statement said Parsneau’s social media posts “have caused distress for many.”

A statement from Finstad’s office on Monday said that the representative had sent Inch a letter condemning Parsneau’s comments. The letter argued that students at Minnesota State, Mankato, deserve “an environment where they can pursue their education free from exposure to faculty who openly glorify or encourage violence.”

Finstad condemned Parsneau last December after comments that Finstad characterized as advocating “in support of the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.” Thompson was shot and killed in December while walking to United Healthcare’s annual investor conference in Manhattan.

Parsneau replied, “It’s going to be disappointing if he’s a one-off killer instead of a serial killer.”

Parsneau said in a phone call then that he was not being serious and that his “facetious” comments were made in a private chat.

On Monday, Parsneau accused Finstad of being a “cancel culture warrior” and the conservative-leaning media outlet Alpha News, which first wrote about this story, of “stalking” his posts.

“I didn’t realize that Alpha News was going to stalk everything I said online,” he said. “I don’t understand why that becomes something that rises to the level of a U.S. House rep caring about it.”