Updated: Sept. 18, 2025, at 6:14 p.m.
The staff member who called Charlie Kirk’s assassination “fair” in a personal social media post is no longer employed by GW, a spokesperson confirmed Thursday afternoon.
Anthony Pohorilak, Mount Vernon Campus’s former assistant director of academic initiatives, is no longer employed by the University after officials requested he leave campus Saturday, pending further review, due to the impact his post had on his job performance, University spokesperson Julia Garbitt confirmed. The announcement, made days after Fox News reported that Pohorilak wrote “no thoughts, and no prayers” about Kirk’s assassination in a post on his personal Facebook account, comes as faculty and staff across the country face termination or suspension over comments they made online about Kirk’s assassination.
Officials removed Pohorilak from GW’s internal directory sometime after Monday and before Wednesday afternoon. They removed his public staff profile as of Saturday, and Pohorilak disabled his LinkedIn profile by Saturday.
“If nothing else, it is fair, in a nation where children get massacred by gun violence on the regular, the people who advocate for continued gun ownership at the expense of those children are not immune from the consequences of their advocacy. No thoughts, and no prayers,” Pohorilak wrote in the Facebook post screenshotted by Fox News.
University spokesperson Skylar Sales said on Sunday Pohorilak was “no longer on campus” due to the impact his social media post had on his ability to fulfill his professional responsibility, adding that he was not authorized to speak on behalf of the University. She declined to comment at the time on whether officials fired Pohorilak.
Pohorilak did not immediately return a request for comment on whether he was fired or left the University voluntarily.
At least a dozen faculty and staff at schools across the country are facing disciplinary action after they shared their opinions about Kirk’s assassination on social media. Middle Tennessee State University fired an employee, Clemson University announced it had suspended an employee, the University of Mississippi said an employee no longer works for them and Cumberland University said two employees were no longer at the university — all over comments about Kirk’s death that officials deemed inappropriate.
Officials issued an advisory Saturday morning that stated they were placing all Vern buildings on GWorld Safety Mode, restricting access to most campus entrances and boosting campus and Metropolitan Police Department police on both the Vern and Foggy Bottom campuses through the weekend after community members received “threatening communications” related to Pohorilak’s social media post. The advisory comes after Fox News reported Friday that he called Kirk’s assassination “fair,” which officials said prompted threats against some community members and led Pohorilak to leave campus.
Political student organization leaders said last week officials pledged to bolster security measures at future speaker events in the wake of Kirk’s assassination, though a University spokesperson declined to comment on the safety measures officials said they would implement at future College Democrats and College Republicans speaker events.
Sales said on Sunday the University “unequivocally condemns” all forms of violence, and believes everyone is entitled to their beliefs without being subject to violence for expressing their views.
She declined to comment on what specific community members received threats, when and what the threats entailed.
GW students, administrators and members of Congress came together Wednesday evening in memoriam of Kirk, where they prayed for his family and shared stories about his life. University President Ellen Granberg said at the memorial she was “so proud” of the GW College Republicans, GW College Democrats and Young Americans for Freedom for coming together to condemn political violence and uphold the importance of communication among those from across the political spectrum.
The vigil comes after student leaders from across the aisle condemned the political violence in the hours after Kirk was fatally shot by suspect Tyler Robinson last Wednesday, with GW College Republicans canceling their speaker event slated for that night.
This post was updated to include the following:
The Hatchet updated this story to include a comment from Garbitt confirming Pohorilak is no longer employed at GW.
