by Kevin Killough
A one-year memorial event Thursday at Utah Valley University where Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated is facing opposition from some students, including some who plan to protests.
They are upset that the university plans to shut down its public campus in Orem to “provide time and space for reflection” for students, staff and faculty to use however they wish. They argue that the university’s administration has decided to “hand over our campus” to Turning Point USA, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
UVU’s Students for a Democratic Society club is planning to protest what they call a “far-right political event” shortly before it begins. An open letter, which was signed by over 600 students, says that they “strongly condemn” the decision to shut down the campus as many of them “will be further negatively affective by allowing TPUSA to occupy our campus that day.”
“President Anderson has aligned himself with the interests of Charlie Kirk’s openly racist and antagonistic organization, which intends to use a narrative of victimhood to provide cover for its campaign to advance chauvinistic and divisive ideas within our university,” the letter states.
“We emphasize that closing campus and proudly hosting a TPUSA event, which will no doubt serve to honor Charlie Kirk and promote his politics, is not in line with an atmosphere of ‘care and consideration.’ We remember Charlie Kirk as someone who represented the opposite of consideration. His career was centered around constant attempts to humiliate naive students who disagreed with him rather than have sincere discussion,” the letter adds.
The college club also called for the school to “stand with the students against hatred and divisiveness.”
“This is our campus, this is your campus. In order for UVU to be ‘a place for you,’ we need to come together as a community and protect those who are marginalized by what Charlie Kirk perpetuated, and from what TPUSA continues to perpetuate,” the letter notes.
UVU President Jon Anderson stood by the administration’s decision, saying that allowing the group on campus aligns with the school’s policies permitting any organization to host an event and not blocking any group based on its political affiliations. Anderson stressed that the event is not sponsored by UVU, though the school did review the Turning Point’s plans for the week and is providing security.
Turning Point USA said in a news release that the memorial will honor Kirk “as a faith-filled husband, father, and defender of free speech.”
“Americans from every corner of the country are welcome to share the moment on social media with a simple message: Charlie’s seat continues to be filled by a new generation of faith-filled believers,” the group said.
The event will be livestreamed on the group’s social media pages.
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Kevin Killough is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
Photo “Charlie Kirk” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
