Several dozen students from the University of South Dakota walked out of classes Oct. 1 as part of a “vigil” for free speech and community.

They were joined by a handful of USD professors and Vermillion residents who supported the walkout, which was in part sparked by USD’s decision to put tenured art professor Phillip Michael Hook on administrative leave and give him an intent to terminate letter for his social media posts regarding the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Hook had written on Facebook that he didn’t give a “flying f--k” about Kirk, that he was a “hate spreading Nazi” and part of the “idiotic right fringe.”

After USD and the South Dakota Board of Regents issued Hook the letter, and after both Gov. Larry Rhoden and South Dakota House Speaker Jon Hansen p

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