The fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk at a Utah college event has put a spotlight on tensions over free speech at universities, where conservatives, including President Trump, have said campuses are intolerant of right-wing speakers and thought.
Kirk, a Trump ally widely credited for revitalizing Republican movements among college students, was speaking before thousands at Utah Valley University when he was shot in the neck. The event was similar to dozens he has held over the years — including at UCLA, USC and Cal State campuses. Kirk typically would sit under a tent to debate attendees who challenged his right-wing views on immigration, gender identity, criminal policy, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, abortion and other hot-button subjects.
As a conservative provocateur, his style and beliefs frequently drew campus protests and petitions from liberal students and faculty seeking to cancel his appearances. The Utah event was no exception. An open letter before his engagement asked the university to reevaluate “the decision to allow Charlie Kirk to speak” because he was against “inclusivity and unity.”
But Utah Valley University leaders said they wanted the campus to be a place “where ideas — popular or controversial — can be exchanged freely, energetically, and civilly” and where “free expression thrives and all voices are respected.” They said the university “does not take official positions on political, social, or cultural controversies.”
The shooting comes as colleges face harsh repercussions from the Trump administration over volatile and widespread pro-Palestinian protests last year. At the time, university leaders struggled to draw the line between free speech and unacceptable behavior under campus codes of conduct.
Left-wing activists have also faced violence for their speech, including an attack on a pro-Palestinian encampment at UCLA last year. Trump has accused universities of being intolerant of conservative philosophies and demanded more conservative faculty hires — but he has also faced criticism for pushing universities to restrict liberal free speech.
In statements and interviews Wednesday, politicians, activists and college conservatives called for greater tolerance of right-wing speech at universities and elsewhere. In recent years, guests invited by Republican clubs or chapters of Turning Point USA — the group that Kirk led — have routinely faced protests, event cancellations and threats at campuses across the country.
“Historically, our university campuses in this nation and here in the state of Utah have been the place where truth and ideas are formulated and debated. And that’s what he does,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican who called the shooting a “political assassination.”
The manhunt for the shooter continued Thursday afternoon.
Kamy Akhavan, managing director for the USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future, said in an email that “we should be deeply troubled when anyone chooses to silence opinions with violence.”
Universities, he said, need to have prominent liberal and conservative speakers to challenge students’ ideologies.
“Today much of our educational system has steered away from discussions of current events and politics for fear of institutional, external, or even personal retribution,” Akhavan said. “We have become really bad at communicating over the things that matter most because we just don’t talk about them.”
Kirk’s death has prompted an outpouring from campus liberals in addition to Republican youths.
In a statement Wednesday, the College Democrats of America said: “We convey our thoughts and prayers to his loved ones. We, alongside many, are mourning his death and condemn political and gun violence.”
College Republicans of America said that “campuses must be places where arguments are answered with better arguments — not bullets.”
“The college Republican movement won’t be deterred by this at all,” said Martin Bertao, the organization’s national president and a junior at UC Berkeley. “We will be emboldened.” Bertao said he felt there was a “crusade” by college students to “silence people they don’t agree with.”
Survey finds more opposition to campus speech
A national survey released the day before the shooting gives weight to the views of both Akhavan and Bertao.
The poll, conducted by the free speech watchdog group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and College Pulse, found a majority of students have a low tolerance for controversial ideas.
One in 3 students also said that violence was “rarely” acceptable to halt campus speech.
“Students continue to show low tolerance for controversial speakers, and troublingly, more believe it’s acceptable to shout down a speaker, block access to events or even resort to violence to silence campus speech than ever before,” the report said.
Mary Corey, a lecturer at UCLA’s history department who studies American social movements, said Kirk’s death disturbed her.
“I wish it hadn’t happened — it makes me cringe, it makes me unhappy, it makes me more afraid,” Corey said.
Kirk regularly toured California colleges
Since Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA 13 years ago, the organization has grown to include more than 3,500 chapters across the country, many on college campuses. Before his death, Kirk’s “prove me wrong table” tour was scheduled to continue at Colorado State University and more than a dozen campuses from Minnesota to Virginia.
In March, he appeared at USC and Cal State Northridge, where promoters handed out “Make America Great Again” and “47” hats in support of Trump. At those events, Kirk challenged diversity, equity and inclusion programs and affirmative action.
“Affirmative action by definition will elevate race-based type acceptance or hiring quotas above excellence-based,” Kirk said to a crowd of hundreds at USC, according to a report in Annenberg Media. “We believe that only merit should matter when you have college admissions, or when you hire people into corporations that skin color should have no bearing in such admissions.”
Kirk spoke to hundreds on May 1 at UC San Diego, and more than 1,000 attendees in a sea of red MAGA shirts and hats on May 5 at Cal State Long Beach. Both events drew minor protests and clashes, but no significant violence, according to campus news reports.
At a May 9 appearance at UC Riverside, he debated attendees over topics including abortion rights and his support for Israel; a punk rock performance in protest of Kirk’s event was shut down for violating campus policies, according to the student-run Highlander newspaper.
Many found Kirk’s words to be offensive
Kirk’s opponents argued that he contradicted his free speech support by encouraging intolerance of liberal ideas. Kirk ran Professor Watchlist, a website listing hundreds of “radical professors” — grouped by topics including “feminism,” “LGBTQ” and “diversity” — that has led to harassment and doxxing.
Opponents also accused Kirk of promoting violence.
In 2022, when a man was arrested for beating Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer, Kirk called for an “amazing patriot” to bail the man out of jail and become a “midterm hero.” During a different event, Kirk described the Bible verse Leviticus 20:13, which says men who have sex with men should be stoned, as “God’s perfect law.”
“Killing Charlie Kirk was horrific,” prominent transgender journalist Erin Reed wrote Thursday on her Substack. “But we also must not sanitize the memory of a man who wished harm on those he disagreed with, and who spread a message of hate to anyone willing to listen or pay him to so.”
Conservative campus visitors face challenges
Conservatives have long faced campus pushback in California.
In 2017, during Trump’s first term, right-wing personality Milo Yiannopoulos’ appearances set off violent protests that shut down events at UC Davis and UC Berkeley.
The next year, the Bruin Republicans group canceled a Yiannopoulos event at UCLA titled “10 Things I Hate About Mexico.” The group said it called off the engagement because it “polarized the leadership of the organization.” And then-UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said he was glad, because the subject was “contrary to our values.”
Ben Shapiro, another popular conservative media figure, has also faced opposition over the years for his events at California campuses, among them UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. But the engagements were not canceled, including an October 2024 speech at UCLA that prompted extra security.
For Kirk’s Utah event, security had also been a concern. Campus police deployed six officers there, according to initial reports. Kirk also had his own private security detail. At least 3,000 people converged in the university quad, an outdoor bowl-type courtyard. It’s believed that the shooter targeted Kirk from the roof of a building.
Eli Tsives, a pro-Israel student activist at UCLA who attended a Kirk event in 2023, said he mourned Kirk, whose death he said will motivate students to speak up on campus.
“We’re going to become louder and more outspoken,” Tsives said. “And we’re going to do it for him because that’s what he dedicated his life to.”