William Pope was one of hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants whose cases were dismissed by President Donald Trump. Now, he’s demanding his job back.

“I won my case,” Pope said. “The government moved to retract all the allegations against me. Those are the allegations that the university had initially justified terminating me on, but now they’ve been withdrawn by the government.”

Pope, a former graduate teaching assistant, sent a letter to Kansas State President Richard Linton, requesting his job back after the case dismissal. 

“I am writing to let you know the good news: I have successfully defended against these false allegations in Court, including both of the felony charges I faced, and I am ready to immediately return to working for Kansas State University as a Graduate Teaching Assistant,” Pope said in his letter.

After sending the letter, Pope said K-State denied his request for his job back.

“I just received a letter from the attorney for @KState which says they do not intend to make ammends for wrongfully terminating me,” Pope wrote in an X post. “This attack on Constitutional 1A rights is a bad mistake by the university that greatly damages KSTATE’s reputation, and I will pursue legal action.”

Pope said K-State communicated with him through attorney Blake Billings, the university’s deputy general counsel.

“So when they fired me, they had the president at the time send me a letter, but now they’re, I think, a little bit more worried about it,” Pope said. “And so they’re communicating through their attorney, so that’s the only contact I’ve had.”

K-State’s spokesperson and director of news and communication services, Michelle Geering, said there was no one available to speak with at the university.

“I am able to share that qualified individuals who meet the requirements for graduate assistantships can apply to open positions, which can be found at https://www.k-state.edu/grad/financial-support/assistantships.html,” Geering said in an email. 

Geering made no further comment. 

Pope said the charges against him were based on a misunderstanding. He said he and his brother decided to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6 to watch “the last speech the president gave.” Pope said after arriving, he and his brother saw officers running into the building and other protesters running out.

“[It was] kind of a curiosity got the cat type of thing,” Pope said. “We walked up there to check it out, and we looked in there, and the hallway was just full of protesters and we had no idea what was going on. But a couple of minutes before then on the other side of the Capitol is when somebody had broken those windows … [and] they opened the door and a bunch of people streamed in and then they went down those hallways.”

Pope said he intended to help an officer who was keeping a protester out of the Capitol Building when he was pushed into it.

“I stood up thinking I was going to help the officer,” Pope said. “At the same time, that guy who had gotten pushed out returned and he began, like, repeatedly shoving me in the back, pushing me into the Capitol Building. I couldn’t tell who was pushing me at the time because he was like, I had my flag over my shoulder.”

Pope was later indicted Feb. 17, 2021 on two felony counts and six misdemeanors. 

“I’ve been fighting my case for the last four years,” Pope said. “Last year, I beat two of the charges because the government couldn’t provide specifics on them. Then another one got thrown out by the Supreme Court. So I’d already beaten three of the charges against me. … the government moved to dismiss the remaining charges [on Jan. 20] and my judge granted the dismissal.”

Pope wrote in his letter he expects “an immediate return” to his position along with “four years of backpay.” He also said he “would be willing” to accept four years of backpay “and three years of equivalent future pay” to cover any educational expenses during the completion of his dissertation. 

“Obviously, in addition to this, I am also seeking for the university to waive all remaining tuition and fees,” Pope wrote.

As for right now, Pope said he will take action “at the right time.”

“I’ve only been in contact with my advisor on my preliminary exam process,” Pope said. “[I’m] moving forward on the academic side, and I will take other action on the employment side.”