A scholarly journal supported by the University of Utah and its university library last year published research conducted by Ermiya Fanaeian, the transgender person who founded the Armed Queers of Salt Lake City (AQSLC), which the FBI is reportedly probing as it investigates the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
The Utah Women’s Health Review (UWHR) in January 2025 included Fanaeian’s research, titled “University of Utah Student and Faculty Satisfaction with Campus Police,” in an online article documenting presentations made in a “poster session” the previous year.
UWHR’s article contained a series of links to video presentations of research hosted on YouTube, and Fanaeian explained in his that university professors helped distribute three sets of survey questions to students. Two of the questions were accompanied by a “prompt,” which contained narratives about the previous reactions by University of Utah campus police to women who sought to report crimes.
“We asked how satisfied they are with the University of Utah Police being the main system of safety on campus,” said Fanaeian. “We asked if they would support an initiative to hire additional police officers into the University of Utah Police.”
He also surveyed the students about whether, “they would support the disbanding of the University of Utah police.”
While the research appears to be unavailable online, an abstract hosted by the Utah Education Network (UEN) appears to confirm that Fanaeian completed the research with a faculty mentor.
“The continuous discourse revolving around policing in America has two sides, one suggesting police do not serve to stop gender-based violence, and another side that argues policing is the only way to adequately address gender-based violence,” wrote Fanaeian. “In this research, we analyze current scholarship on police satisfaction, campus gender-based violence, and police perception differences among racially oppressed people.”
Faneaian indicated that analysis of the data would be forthcoming, but later reflected on the research in another document hosted by UEN.
He wrote in the reflection, “The campus, a place that has been responsible for some of the greatest social movements, tragedies, and is often centered in the trajectory of history, is one that cannot be ignored within the context of studying political and social institutions.”
Faneaian added, “The police, an institution that some of the greatest scholarship has generated critiques towards, is a perfect starting point to begin understanding the organization of the campus.”
According to its website, the peer reviewed journal focuses, “on sex and gender differences that affect the 7 Domains of Health: physical, emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, social, and spiritual.”
It also describes UQHR as, “a collaboration between the University of Utah Center of Excellence in Women’s Health and Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library,” which is located at the university’s campus. “The UWHR is an ongoing initiative involving all University of Utah Colleges,” and the library, according to the site.
The university published Fanaeian’s research almost four years after he protested in favor of abolishing police and prisons at a demonstration organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).
“Say yes to police and prison abolition,” Fanaeian reportedly urged the crowd in 2020. He added, “‘Radical’ is not a dirty word.”
Fanaeian founded a PSL study group on the University of Utah campus two years after attending the protest.
“The Party for Socialism and Liberation is not a liberal movement — we are a leftist movement,” Fanaeian said in 2022, according to the Daily Utah Chronicle. He told the outlet, “We are an anti-capitalist movement. We are a working class revolutionary movement.”
University of Utah students were reported by the outlet in 2023 to have attended anti-Israel protests organized by PSL. However, it did not confirm that Fanaeian or her study group were in attendance.
The Anti-Defamation League has reported PSL has five college campus groups across the nation, and that the national political organization, “frequently expresses extreme anti-Zionist and pro-terror views.”
In June, the U.S. House Oversight Committee raised media reports tying PSL to the recent riots in opposition to federal immigration enforcement, and to a billionaire with alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The committee asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate for potential Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA).
Watch Fanaeian’s presentation:
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ermiya Fanaeian” by University of Utah.
