Nuchelle Chance #

Introduction #

Nuchelle Chance is an assistant professor in the psychology department at Fort Hays State University in Kansas. In September 2025, days after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, posts from her Facebook account drew national attention. After the posts were amplified by the Libs of TikTok account, Fort Hays State reviewed the matter as a confidential personnel issue, and in early October Chance said she had been placed on administrative leave. She has maintained her posts were deliberately misinterpreted; the reporting documents no firing, no criminal charge, and no court ruling.

Background Information #

Chance served as an assistant professor in Fort Hays State’s psychology department. A research profile cited by The College Fix describes her as a “social activist, educator, academic, scholar, mentor, advocate, and leader,” whose work deals with “social cognition, sex and gender differences, women’s studies, race, and learning.”

The posts came on September 10, 2025 — the day Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during a debate appearance at Utah Valley University. His assassination triggered a wave of employment consequences for educators nationwide. Fox News reported other educators nationwide faced discipline over posts about Kirk’s killing, including a South Dakota professor temporarily reinstated by a federal judge after the university moved to fire him, and an Iowa teacher who was terminated and sued his district.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Allegations. The claims in this section concern social-media posts that were quoted in news coverage and amplified by critics, after which Fort Hays State University placed her on leave. She was never criminally charged and nothing was adjudicated in court. Chance says her posts were deliberately misinterpreted.

On September 10, 2025, the day Kirk was fatally shot, Chance posted on Facebook, “Me thinks the word ‘karma’ is appropriate. Sad day all around,” and linked to a partial quote from Kirk about the Second Amendment. Two days later, after police identified Tyler Robinson as the suspect in the shooting, she wrote, “But when we tell y’all that statistically… White American men are the most dangerous animals on the planet we’re wrong. Let’s not be hasty they say…” The College Fix characterized the post as Chance saying white American men “are the most dangerous animals on the planet” upon learning the identity of Kirk’s killer.

The posts circulated widely after being amplified by Libs of TikTok, an X account with 4.4 million followers. The account posted about Chance on a Sunday and tagged the university’s X page, then responded to the school’s public statement by writing, “Sorry, but I don’t have ‘patience’ for professors who call white Americans ‘dangerous animals’ and mock the murder of a young father. This statement says absolutely nothing.”

Fort Hays State’s chief communications officer, Scott Cason, said the university was aware of the Libs of TikTok content linking a faculty member to posts about Kirk, that “individuals who post commentaries to their personal social media accounts do not speak for the university,” and that the situation was being reviewed as a confidential personnel matter. The school simultaneously reaffirmed its commitment to “free, open and respectful dialogue.”

Public Reaction and Consequences #

As criticism mounted, Chance pushed back in a TikTok video in late September, saying she was being targeted online by Libs of TikTok and other accounts. “In my post, I just stated that there’s karma,” she said. “There’s irony associated with that, and that’s by no means to celebrate someone’s death.” She framed karma in scientific terms, comparing it to Newton’s laws of physics: “I believe that it’s passed and transferred. The energy that one puts out, one receives.” Pointing to FBI statistics on the demographics of mass shooters, she added, “Not that I conclude that every single white American man is a terrorist or potentially violent. I mean, I come from a white home. I’m actually biracial, and I’m half white myself.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Chance said her posts were “misinterpreted — intentionally and deliberately,” and called the backlash a “manufactured outrage campaign rooted in misogynoir,” a term she described as the intersection of racism and sexism faced by Black women. She said her use of the word “animal” was drawn from behavioral science and not meant to be degrading. A Change.org petition started in early October claimed she faced possible discipline “for expressing her personal opinions on a private social media account” about gun violence, calling her posts “contemplative discussions on the pervasive issue of gun violence affecting our nation.”

The concrete consequence was administrative: in early October 2025, Chance said she had been placed on leave. “I am currently on a two-week administrative leave from Fort Hays State University and will not be checking my university email regularly during this time,” read an auto-reply from her university email. Her faculty page was removed from the school’s website, and the university did not say whether any disciplinary action had been taken.

Current Status #

As of the latest reporting in October 2025, Chance remained a Fort Hays State employee serving a two-week administrative leave, with a university spokesperson saying the school was “still working through the issue” and asking those who expressed concerns for patience as it addressed the matter “with the seriousness it warrants.” By mid-October her faculty page was still inactive, and neither the university nor subsequent coverage announced any firing.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The controversy left Chance’s employment in limbo and made her a reference point in a national debate over employee speech. She rejected the idea that her posts undermine her teaching, saying, “I have never discussed my political views in the classroom. That would be inappropriate and unprofessional — and, frankly, asinine,” and noting that her teaching evaluations and grading practices consistently reflect fairness across demographics. She also described her scholarship as “grounded in equity and humanism, not bias.”

Personally, she described the toll directly. “Who I am as a person outside of my professional spaces should never be put under attack,” she said in her video response. “The institution that I am an employee at has been put in a hard place. I’m black in America. I get hard places.” She added, “Although I am mentally exhausted, I realized that no one’s going to speak up for you but yourself. You have to be your own advocate,” and, “I refuse to be anyone’s victim.” Her case joined the wider wave of post-Kirk employment disputes and legal challenges over how far schools can go in punishing employees for online comments.