'UNF is making a mistake': Fired professor says remarks about shooting students were misunderstood

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacob McElroy, an English instructor at the University of North Florida, is set to be terminated after the university says he made controversial comments during a classroom lecture in September.

McElroy’s remarks came in a lesson addressing the assassination of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk the day before. He says the class discussion was designed to explore rhetoric and the impact of language, using a dramatic and ironic approach.

“I had entered into this practice that I do sometimes of putting on a kind of character," McElroy said. "This was a sort of, you know, an ironic hypothetical professor, like, what if you had an English professor that was just doing everything wrong? What would he say in this situation?"

The university issued a termination letter d