{"id":233265,"date":"2025-09-17T07:21:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T07:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/233265\/"},"modified":"2025-09-17T07:21:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T07:21:22","slug":"student-no-longer-at-texas-state-after-mocking-charlie-kirk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/233265\/","title":{"rendered":"Student no longer at Texas State after mocking Charlie Kirk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sign up for The Brief<\/a>, The Texas Tribune\u2019s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.\n<\/p>\n

A Texas State University student\u2019s enrollment ended after a video was posted showing him mocking conservative activist Charlie Kirk\u2019s death, the latest in a series of removals across Texas campuses prompted by comments made about the killing.<\/p>\n

The video, posted<\/a> Tuesday morning on X, shows the student in a crowd slapping his neck several times, calling himself Kirk and at one point climbing the base of a statue and stating \u201cmy name is Charlie Kirk\u201d before falling over. Kirk died after being shot in the neck on Sept. 10 during an event he was hosting at Utah Valley University.<\/p>\n

The video sparked responses condemning the student\u2019s mocking of Kirk, including from Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a>, who reshared the video and demanded Texas State University take action against the student.<\/p>\n

\u201cExpel this student immediately,\u201d Abbott said in a social media post<\/a> on X. \u201cMocking assassination must have consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Six hours after Abbott\u2019s request, Texas State University announced the person in the video had been identified and \u201cwas no longer a student\u201d at the university, according to a statement<\/a> from Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse. It was not immediately clear whether the student was expelled or voluntarily withdrew. In Damphousse\u2019s statement, he called the video \u201cdisturbing\u201d and condemned the student\u2019s behavior.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not tolerate behavior that mocks, trivializes, or promotes violence on our campuses,\u201d Damphousse said.<\/p>\n

The name of the student was not released by Damphousse in his statement, and said that federal law prevents the school from commenting on individual student conduct matters. Texas State University spokespeople did not immediately respond to questions about what policies may have been broken or what specific behavior from the student had triggered officials to act.<\/p>\n

The end of the student\u2019s enrollment is a convergence between two recent phenomena gripping Texas education: widespread conservative backlash against those who mock or criticize Kirk in the days since his killing, and viral videos of those in higher education leading to their removal from campus. Faculty and advocacy groups have expressed repeated concern<\/a> that the wave of removals and firings for statements and actions by students and faculty amount to First Amendment violations and a clampdown on free speech.<\/p>\n

A student at Texas Tech University was arrested for misdemeanor assault on Sept. 12 after a video of her demeaning Kirk and arguing with another student was shared on social media, including by Abbott.<\/p>\n

And in K-12 schools, at least two teachers in Texas have been fired for online comments they made about Kirk and two have resigned. The Texas Education Agency said it has received 180 complaints<\/a> it will investigate related to comments made about Kirk. Texas American Federation of Teachers president Zeph Capo condemned the investigations as a politically motivated \u201cwitch hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comments made by those in higher education to matters unrelated to Kirk\u2019s death have also prompted online criticism and calls for removals. On Sept. 10, Texas State University fired<\/a> Professor Thomas Alter for comments he made during an online social conference that was unknowingly recorded and posted on social media.<\/p>\n

And at Texas A&M University on Sept. 9, Professor Melissa McCoul was fired<\/a> and the College of Arts and Sciences dean and a department head were removed from their positions. The firing and removals came after a video of a student confronting McCoul in her children\u2019s literature course over gender identity content was posted online.<\/p>\n

The shockwave of backlash on multiple fronts across the state, led and at times spurred by conservative lawmakers, comes as Texas universities are turning to politicians<\/a> more frequently to take on administrative roles at state institutions. Three current<\/a> and<\/a> former<\/a> state Republican lawmakers have been selected as chancellors of some of Texas\u2019 largest university systems this year.<\/p>\n

Republican lawmakers have also led efforts to restrict when and how students can protest on campus, claiming the new guidelines will help to avoid unsafe behavior seen at pro-Palestinian protests last year. Senate Bill 2972<\/a> restricts sound amplifying devices to be used in a disruptive manner and prohibits protests between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.<\/p>\n

The restrictions in SB 2972 come five years after the Texas Legislature passed a bill in 2019 that aimed to bolster free speech protections on campus. Senate Bill 18<\/a> was also authored and favored by Republicans, which created sanctions for students who interfere with others\u2019 free speech and protects student organizations’ ability to invite speakers on campus.<\/p>\n

Amid the public outcry, Damphousse pushed back on claims that the student\u2019s actions in the video reflects on the university or its community as a whole in an email sent to Texas State University students. He also asked for \u201cmeasured response and dialogue\u201d amid the anxiety on campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust as the behavior in the video was reprehensible, attempts to spread the blame onto innocent students are also unacceptable,\u201d Damphousse said. \u201cThe actions of one person do not reflect our entire community or the individuals in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disclosure: Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Three featured TribFest speakers confirmed! You don\u2019t want to miss \u200b\u200bDeb Haaland<\/strong>, former U.S. Secretary of the Interior and 2026 Democratic candidate for New Mexico governor; state Sen. Joan Huffman<\/strong>, R-Houston and 2026 Republican candidate for Texas Attorney General; and Jake Tapper<\/strong>, anchor of CNN\u2019s \u201cThe Lead\u201d and \u201cState of the Union\u201d at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Nov. 13\u201315 in downtown Austin. Get your tickets today!<\/a><\/p>\n

TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":233266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[5026,8734,50,46301,5528,118590,8973,5526,5523,5525,5524,12237,99192,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-233265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-greg-abbott","10":"tag-higher-education","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-public-education","13":"tag-state-government","14":"tag-texas-am-university-college-station","15":"tag-texas-education-agency","16":"tag-texas-government","17":"tag-texas-news","18":"tag-texas-policy","19":"tag-texas-politics","20":"tag-texas-state-university","21":"tag-texas-tech-university","22":"tag-united-states","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115218434184986306","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}