MSU students display a mix of emotions after Charlie Kirk’s death

Right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk was shot dead on Utah Valley University’s campus in Orem last Wednesday during an outdoor ‘Prove Me Wrong’ debate. Within minutes of it taking place, a graphic video of the assassination was disseminated across social media platforms.

Kirk had just started his “American Comeback Tour,” and was set to visit MSU on Oct. 7. In the wake of Kirk’s death, his wife Erika said the campus tour will continue. 

Kirk was a co-founder of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative policies, with different chapters across the nation. Kirk was known as a high-profile media personality.

“Our thoughts are with Mr. Kirk’s family as they grieve after this shocking act of violence,” said interim Vice President of Communications Mike Becker. “[MSU] rejects, in the strongest terms, violence in all its forms and strives to preserve the safety, dignity and well-being of all members of the campus community.”

A protest to Kirk’s tour, organized by the MSU chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), has been permanently canceled, a SDS representative said in an email to the Exponent on Sept. 12.

In an effort to gather community reactions, the Exponent asked students on campus to share their perspectives on Kirk’s assassination and the discourse that it has sparked.  

MSU graduate student and instructor for the College of Letters and Sciences Carol Mealer said that while she disagrees with Kirk’s views, he had a right to express them. 

“I don't think anybody should celebrate the death of someone,” she said. “Political assassination — I mean, it seems to be in our ethos these days because of what happened in [Minnesota] and various other things. It's been throughout but this is a different level, a different sense of anger.” 

“Everybody has a right to believe and follow their own path, and I will die for that, whether I believe in them or not,” she said. “That's what our democracy is about, but this to me — it's awful, just awful.”

For senior mechanical engineering major Adam Deeney, seeing the video of Kirk’s death was shocking. 

“One of the most gruesome videos I've ever seen,” he said. “I think it's been upsetting to see how political it's become. Sure, his message and his purpose was politically based, but the fact that even just posting about it and trying to say that your thoughts are with him has become a political statement. It feels odd to me.”

Junior human development and family science major Taittum Bummer said Kirk’s death is sad, but ironic. “I think it's sad that people are trying to care now, or are at least publicizing it, way more than for children who are being murdered,” she said.

“I think that is f---ed up. You should care more about children who don't get to go home to their parents than somebody who spreads so much hate towards many different groups of people. He was not a Christian man. He was very hateful,” Bummer said.

She referenced a comment Kirk made in 2023, where he told the audience at a Turning Point USA Faith Event in Salt Lake City that gun deaths are “worth it” in order to “have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.”

Bummer also mentioned a comment Kirk made in 2022, where he said that empathy is a “made-up, new age term” on an episode of his podcast, “The Charlie Kirk Show.” 

“He literally said, ‘Empathy is not real,’ so I don't know why all of his followers and people that supported him are now having so much empathy towards him, but not other people who are being murdered,” she said. 

Senior computer science major Aleksandr Means said Kirk’s rhetoric stoked state and political violence.

“I think if one is gonna be the architect of that kind of world, then we need to be prepared for the consequences of creating that world,” he said. “This was tragic in the most classically Greek sense possible.” 

Another viewpoint was voiced by junior political science major Matthew McGraw, who said seeing people celebrate Kirk’s death was disheartening. 

“People celebrating his death — a very small amount of people — but even that, that small amount of people, it just brought me to my knees, emotionally, in a way,” he said. “I wanted to throw up.” 

McGraw said he hopes people stop dehumanizing those on the opposite side of the political spectrum. 

“If you promote political violence or celebrate political violence towards anyone, whether it be Charlie Kirk or Donald Trump or those lawmakers in Minnesota, left or right — you should be left out of the political conversation,” he said. 

McGraw said he was concerned about the misinformation regarding the shooter that has been circling online.

“I think we need to listen to authorities in this situation,” he said. “[It’s] politically charged misinformation meant to make people think badly about other people. We need to work together against political violence and polarization.”

As for future events on campus, Becker said the University Police Department and event staff put in a tremendous amount of work planning security. 

“They work closely with those visiting campus or renting campus facilities on security plans, which can involve private security that the event would bring with them, local security companies and law enforcement at multiple levels, as appropriate to that specific event's needs,” he wrote.

Correction: This article originally stated that Carol Mealer was a Ph.D. candidate and an instructor in the history department. This has been corrected to reflect that Carol Mealer is a graduate student and an instructor for the College of Letters and Sciences.