MC students reflect on Charlie Kirk’s death

Charlie Kirk, a prominent right-wing political activist and debater, was shot and killed on Sept. 10, 2025, on the Utah Valley University campus. His death produced waves of controversy and political divide on a national level; locally, it also impacted MC students. There are many opinions in the MC community surrounding Kirk’s death due to his contentious reputation and political stances.

“I was happy to hear [of his death], and most of my friends were happy to hear it,” said Charlie Anderson (‘26). “I’m not celebrating the violence itself, but I’m celebrating the fact that someone who perpetuates so much hate can’t do that anymore.”

According to Anderson, some of the major perspectives leading to disputes were based on moral disagreements and personal ethics. This includes the public raising issues with the use of celebratory language surrounding his death, as well as people being unable to condone someone’s death due to personal religious beliefs.

Emma Holmes (‘25) contributed her perspective on this take: “You don’t have to feel entirely sad that someone has passed away,” she said. “However, I think you should still have the humanity to recognize that an entire campus of college students is forever traumatized [by the shooting].”

Jaedyn Sudderth (‘27) thinks it is understandable that a lot of people aren’t upset at his death, saying: “He has influenced the rhetoric of a lot of right-wing followers of Trump, contributing to the hate towards marginalized groups. As a person of color and a woman, he has said a lot of things against those groups – he was extremely misogynistic, and literally said the civil rights movement shouldn’t have happened.”

Comments made by Kirk about Second Amendment rights led some students to see a form of irony in his death.

“[Gun violence] happens all the time,” Reese Johnson (‘26) said. “Kirk turns into a number in a statistic who just happened to have had more influence than the thousands [of others] who have died from gun violence.”

The media surrounding the event confused many students, who expressed uncertainty about what they felt. Some students showed a sense of grief for this sudden loss of life.

“It was [a moment of] overall disbelief and sadness,” said David Stone (‘28). “It’s one of those moments where you know exactly where you were when it happened.”

Regardless of which side of the political aisle students sit on, most can agree that Kirk’s death was historically significant. The political implications surrounding Kirk’s death created division among MC students based on competing ideological positions.

“Charlie Kirk was literally known to be the ‘talk to me’ guy, saying: ‘let’s have a conversation, we may disagree’,” Becca Johnson (‘26) said. “Seeing people praise political violence in any capacity, especially in such a public and brutal way, was absolutely disgusting to me, and there were a lot of people who felt no shame about it.”

Holmes added to this, discussing the hypocrisy she saw in the democratic response to this assassination. 

“You cannot be the party that primarily opposes violence, gun violence and political violence, yet be happy when it happens to someone you don’t like,” she said. “That cognitive dissonance just does not make sense to me.”

In response to Kirk’s death, multiple Resident Assistants allegedly shared celebratory posts on their private Instagram stories, which led to their immediate probation from the Residence Life higher-ups, questioning the validity of free speech at MC.

“I think it’s unfair to [put RA’s on probation] because people should be entitled to have their own opinions,” Sudderth, an RA, said.

“I’m willing to be outspoken about it,” said Anderson, who is also an RA. “I don’t feel bad about it. I think it’s funny how the higher-ups in Res Life are people completely unaffected by Charlie Kirk’s [agenda]. I think they would see things differently if they were impacted by his agenda.”

However, Anderson’s willingness to speak out is not something shared by all students – many students do not want to speak on the record after this event. 

“In the past year or so, I’ve noticed a lot of [students] being very cautious [about sharing opinions],” said Student One, who wished to remain anonymous. “If you go on Yik Yak, there have been many moments of great [political] divide that reflect how people feel on campus.”

Some students, however, have been inspired by this event to be less cautious, instead sharing their beliefs openly.

“[Kirk’s death] kind of lit a fire under me,” KK Peyret (‘28) said. “Now, instead of being scared, I feel passionate about letting people know about my beliefs.”

The fact that Kirk’s death took place on a college campus has caused student anxiety surrounding both campus safety and the climate for open dialogue. 

“College students [at the shooting] thought that a mass shooting was occurring and that their lives were in danger,” said Holmes. “Vicarious trauma is very real.” 

“I feel safe on this campus, and I feel safe to express my opinions in classes,” said anonymous Student Two. They also added that if they had the same clout as Kirk, they wouldn’t feel safe in the same way.

“I don’t think my political speech has been impaired,” Stone said. “However, I think that there’s increased caution about what’s said to certain people.” 

Similarly, there are varying student responses regarding the amount of media coverage the shooting has received. 

“It makes sense that it got a lot of [media attention], but it shows what the world cares about right now,” anonymous Student Three said. “The setting, the shooting and the implications of [Kirk] being shot are why it got a lot [of publicity].”

Feelings about Kirk’s death have been widely varied, but one opinion has been shared loudly across Maryville College. As stated by Student Three: “There’s freedom of speech, but there isn’t freedom of consequence.”

“When you are someone who spreads that type of hate, you are going to get that hate back,” said Sudderth, echoing this sentiment.

Opinions on campus differ; people have individual reasons to use anonymity or not to speak up at all, but many also feel comfortable enough to share their perspectives. Many agree that continuing to partake in these difficult dialogues is integral to keeping Maryville College a safe space for all.

“Political violence is never okay in any capacity,” said Johnson. “We need to keep having political discourse and carry on these types of conversations… because I want to be able to talk to people I disagree with.”

Charlie Kirk debating students at the University of Tennessee during his American Comeback Tour. Photo courtesy of Brianna Paciorka from the Knoxville News Sentinel.