Charlie Kirk's fatal shooting at an Utah College event has highlighted tensions about freedom of expression in universities, where conservatives, including President Trump, said that campus are intolerant with speakers and right -wing thought.
Kirk, a broadly accredited Trump ally for revitalizing republican movements among university students, spoke before thousands of the University of Utah Valley when he was shot in the neck. The event was similar to the dozens that he has celebrated over the years, even on the state campus of UCLA, USC and Cal. Kirk would generally sit under a tent to discuss the attendees who challenged their right-wing opinions about immigration, gender identity, criminal policy, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, abortion and other higher subjects.
As a conservative provocateur, their style and beliefs often caused protests and requests from the liberal student campus and teachers seeking to cancel their appearances. The Utah event was no exception. An open letter before his commitment asked the University to “[re-evaluate] The decision to allow Charlie Kirk to speak “because he was against” inclusion and unity. “
But the leaders of the University of Utah Valley said that they wanted the campus to be a place “where the ideas, popular or controversial, can be freely and civilly exchanged” and where “free expression thrives and all voices are respected.” They said that the university “does not take official positions on political, social or cultural controversies.”
The shooting occurs when universities face harsh repercussions of the Trump administration on pro-volatile pro-plantations volatile and generalized last year. At that time, university leaders fought to draw the line between freedom of expression and unacceptable behavior under the codes of behavior of the campus.
Left activists have also faced the violence of their speech, including an attack on the Pro-Palestinian camp in UCLA last year. Trump has accused universities of being intolerant with conservative philosophies and demanded more conservative power hiring, but has also faced criticism of promoting universities to restrict freedom of liberal expression.
In statements and interviews on Wednesday, politicians, activists and conservatives of the University requested greater tolerance to right discourse at universities. In recent years, guests invited by Republican clubs or chapters of Turning Point USA, the group that led Kirk, have faced protests, cancellations of events and threats on campus throughout the country.
“Historically, our university campuses in this nation and here in the state of Utah they have been the place where the truth and ideas are formulated and discussed. And that is what it does,” said Utah's republican governor Spencer Cox, who called the shooting a “political murder.”
The human hunt for the shooter continued on Thursday.
Kamy Akhavan, managing director of Dornsife Center of the USC for the political future, said in an email that “we should be deeply worried when someone chooses to silence opinions violently.”
Universities, he said, need to have prominent liberal and conservative speakers to challenge students' ideologies.
“Today, much of our education system has moved away from discussions about current events and politics for fear of institutional, external or even personal remuneration,” Akhavan said. “We have become really bad to communicate about the things that matter the most because we simply talk about them.”
Kirk's death has caused an effusion of campus liberals in addition to young Republicans.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Democrats of the University of America said: “We transmit our thoughts and prayers to their loved ones. We, along with many, are mourning for their death and condemn political and armed violence.”
College Republicans of America said that “campus must be places where the arguments are answered with better arguments, not bullets.” The university chapters planned vigils for Kirk to take place on Thursday.
“The University Republican Movement will not dissuade this at all,” said Martin Bertao, national president of the organization and Junior in UC Berkeley. “We will be emboldened.” Bertao said he felt there was a “crusade” of university students to “silence the people with whom they disagree.”
The survey finds more opposition to campus speech
A national survey published the day before shooting gives weight to the opinions of Akhavan and Bertao.
The survey, conducted by the foundation of the Watchdog Group of Free Speace for individual rights and expression and university pulse, found that most students have a low tolerance to controversial ideas.
One in three students also said that violence was “rarely” acceptable to stop campus speech.
“The atmosphere is not just cautious, it is hostile. Students continue to show a low tolerance for the controversial speakers, and in a problematic way, they believe it is acceptable to shout to a speaker, block access to events or even resort to violence to silence the discourse of the campus that never before,” the report said.
Mary Corey, a main continuous teacher in the UCLA History Department that studies US social movements and popular culture, said Kirk's death disturbed her.
“I wish it would not have happened, it makes me shiver, it makes me unhappy, it is more afraid,” Corey said.
Kirk regularly toured the universities of California
Since co -founded Turning Point USA 12 years ago, the Kirk organization has grown up to include more than 3,500 chapters throughout the country, many on university campuses. Before his death, the “Test Table Table” tour of Kirk was scheduled to continue at Colorado State University and more than a dozen campus from Minnesota to Virginia.
In March, it appeared in USC and Cal State Northridge, where the promoters delivered “Make America Great Again” and “47” Hats in Trump's support. In those events, Kirk challenged programs for diversity, equity and inclusion and affirmative action.
“The affirmative action by definition will raise the acceptance of the type based on the race or the hiring quotas above excellence,” Kirk told a multitude of hundreds of hundreds in USC, according to a report in Annenberg Media. “We believe that only merit should import when it has university admissions, or when it hires people in corporations that skin color should not take into account such admissions.”
The opponents also argued that Kirk himself encouraged intolerance to liberal discourse. Kirk directed the teacher's surveillance list, a website that lists hundreds of “radical teachers”, grouped by topics that include “feminism”, “LGBTQ” and “diversity”, which has led to harassment and doxx.
Kirk spoke with hundreds of May 1 at UC San Diego, and more than 1,000 attendees in a sea of Red Maga shirts and hats on May 5 in Cal State Beach. Both events caused small protests and confrontations, but there is no significant violence, according to News Campus reports.
In an appearance on May 9 in UC Riverside, he discussed attendees on issues, including the rights of abortion and his support for Israel; According to the Highlander newspaper, administered by the Highlander newspaper administered by the Highlander newspaper administered by the Highlander newspaper, a punk rock performance was closed in the protest of the Kirk event for violating campus policies.
Campus conservative visitors face challenges
The conservatives have long faced the rejection of the campus in California.
In 2017, during Trump's first mandate, the right personality Milo Yiannopoulos triggered violent protests that closed the events in UC Davis and UC Berkeley.
The following year, the group of Republicans of Bruin canceled an event of Yiannopoulos in UCLA entitled “10 things that I hate from Mexico”. The group said he canceled the commitment because “polarized the leadership of the organization.” And then, the UCLA Gene Chancellor Block said it was happy, because the subject was “contrary to our values.”
Ben Shapiro, another popular figure of the conservative media, has also faced the opposition over the years for his events on the California campus, including UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. But the commitments were not canceled, including an October 2024 speech in UCLA that caused additional security.
For the Kirk event in Utah, security had also been a concern. The campus police deployed six officers there, according to initial reports. Kirk also had his own security details. At least 3,000 people converged at the Quad University, an outdoor bowl type patio. It is believed that the shooter pointed to Kirk from the roof of a building.
Eli Tsives, a Pro-Israel student activist in UCLA who attended a Kirk event in 2023, said he cried for Kirk, whose death said he will motivate the students to speak on the campus.
“We are going to be stronger and more open,” Tsives said. “And we will do it for him because that is what his life dedicated.”
