Charlie Kirk's image still haunts many students at Utah Valley University one year after the right-wing political activist’s assassination on their college campus.
Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder of the conservative youth movement Turning Point USA, was shot in the neck by a sniper’s bullet while speaking in front of horrified college students in Orem, Utah, on September 10, 2025. Students remain divided a year after Kirk’s killing as their university canceled classes Thursday “to provide time and space for reflection, service and connection” and to mark the anniversary of the political assassination.
The university has allowed Turning Point to rent its UCCU Center in the evening to host a memorial for Kirk. Turning Point’s event, titled “Freedom Built to Last Memorial Honoring Charlie Kirk,” is billed as an opportunity “to remember Charlie Kirk, honor his extraordinary life, and reflect on the lasting legacy that he left behind.”
While some Kirk fans plan to attend, UVU’s Students for a Democratic Society characterized the memorial as a “far-right political event” and plan to stage a protest outside.
“They could have had some sort of memorial service off of campus, away from the exact spot that it had happened,” Collin Grannis, a founding member of Students for a Democratic Society, told The Independent. “Because a lot of people have a lot of trauma with that imagery with Charlie Kirk’s face, with the campus on that day.”
Kirk toured college campuses across the country, preaching messages of conservative Christianity to students. As an anti-abortion Christian, he routinely debated progressive liberals, Muslims, and the LGBT+ community, prompting accusations that Kirk promoted misogyny, Islamophobia, and homophobia across America.
Students received an email from university president Jon Anderson in August where he informed them of the memorial, which he said was a “private event.”
“We remain committed to free expression and constructive dialogue, while taking the appropriate steps to ensure those conversations can happen as safely and respectfully as possible,” UVU spokesperson Sharon Turner told The Independent.
Turner clarified that the UCCU Center is an event space that UVU shares with Utah County and rents to third parties when it is not in use. “The center is frequently used by a variety of local and national organizations,” Turner said. “The university does not endorse the third-party activities presented at the UCCU Center.”
Grannis plans to join members of the Democratic group in protest Thursday evening.
“People are against memorializing a man whose legacy was full of hate and full of divisiveness,” Grannis said.
Anderson said the decision to close campus for the day would “allow every person to move forward in their own way.” But Grannis said the university has dredged up the trauma of the campus shooting by allowing Turning Point’s memorial to continue.
“Instead of moving forward and having it be a normal day, UVU has, I think unintentionally, forced everyone to sort of reckon with the fact that that event had happened on campus, and that people will be constantly reminded,” the 22-year-old said, adding that all it does is remind students of a “horrific death on campus.”
Turning Point shared a photo on social media Thursday of the site where Kirk was killed, resembling a shrine with an American flag and a wooden cross. The Independent understands that neither are permanent fixtures on campus and the cross was not placed there by university officials.
“That courtyard was radioactive after [the shooting]. Nobody wanted to hang out, no one wanted to study,” Grannis said. “No one wanted to just rest there because it really wasn't a space that was comfortable or safe for UVU students after.”
The group wrote an open letter to the university, calling for the event to be canceled, and accused Turning Point of “advocating for harm towards marginalized groups.”
“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 said.
Speakers at the memorial include conservative commentators Michael Knowles and Glenn Beck.
Turning Point representatives have been handing out flyers for the memorial on campus this week, according to The New York Times, and people wishing to attend can register online.
One student told the Times that the memorial was a way to “honor” Kirk, and placed a rose near the plaza where the activist was shot. “This was a national tragedy,” he told the outlet.
In response to the backlash, Turner said that Anderson “plans to support all students regardless of their viewpoint,” and he plans to sit with the protesters to “understand their concerns” while also supporting those who are mourning.
