Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 10/26/2025 2:02:36 PM PDT by DFG
A plan at Utah Valley University (UVU) to create a memorial to Charlie Kirk has been met by protests and a petition signed by thousands to block the effort. One protester declared, “We don’t want his likeness on campus.” That is hardly a new sentiment since Kirk was assassinated on the campus on Sept. 10, 2025. However, the protest shows the sense of license that many have in opposing anyone with conflicting views, including those represented in memorials.
I have a long history with UVU and was pleased to receive the Madison award from the university, and was declared an honorary faculty member years ago. It is a wonderful academic institution with a growing and vibrant intellectual community.
It was, therefore, particularly shocking to see that UVU was the scene of the assassination of Kirk and then to watch this protest over an effort to memorialize the advocate for free speech.
The UVU Students for a Democratic Society led the protests this week. One student, Collin Grannis, told KSTU, “We don’t want his likeness on campus; we don’t want his likeness sort of immortalized.”
Student Abagael Woods added, “For one thing, it’s going to get vandalized — there’s no way it’s not. And it’s going to re-traumatize a bunch of people.”
The suggestion that the school should not memorialize a victim of a criminal act due to the threat of additional criminal acts is chilling. It is not clear who would be “re-traumatized.” Some said that they were being traumatized by Kirk’s appearance at the school. For supporters of Kirk, the argument that they should be protected from the trauma of further criminal acts is menacing and mendacious.
Woods reportedly recommended a “memorial for unity” like therapy dogs on campus. Presumably, no one would dare to spray paint or shoot a therapy dog.
Many, however, feel the same license to destroy memorials to Kirk around the country.
The protestors’ campaign has drawn significant online support, with an anti-memorial petition surpassing 15,000 signatures. Meanwhile, a competing petition in favor of the memorial has gathered more than 21,000 signatures.
Over 15,000 people have signed the petition, declaring that “[Kirk’s] words and actions caused pain and division, and we cannot ignore the impact of his negativity.” Kirk’s support for the Second Amendment is cited as one of the reasons to block any memorial. Instead, the petition declares, “our hearts ache for the countless children who have tragically lost their lives to gun violence in schools. Their memories deserve to be honored with dedicated memorials, serving as a constant reminder of the urgent need for change.”
The suggestion of possible criminal acts in response to the memorial should only reinforce the commitment of the university to create it. Critics can then enlist as many therapy dogs as are necessary to deal with it, but they should be expelled if they attempt to deface it.
None of this is particularly surprising, but it is depressing. It is a sad statement on the views of many that they cannot, even as critics of Kirk, support a memorial to express the deep sadness over his murder on their campus. Kirk was someone who invited debate and fought for a diversity of opinion on campuses. Yet, even his memorial is now the subject of a cancel campaign.
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
It’s surprising to me how many leftists there are in Utah and the “Mormon stovepipe” area of ID and WY. I saw some with the “8647” signs during the NoKings protests. They can’t all be from California...
FRegards,
PrairieDawg
They’d rather see statues of Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx.
I honestly pity these students. They are going to graduate and leave campus at some point only to find out that the world does not give a rat’s fuzzy butt about their “feelings”. They’re going to hear, see, and be exposed to things they do not agree with and have not acquired the tools to mentally handle it.
They will not have a Democratic Socialist Student Union to join and organize a protest. No petitions to sign. Nobody is going to care about anything other than their job performance. Reality is going to kick them squarely between the legs.
They hate it because it’s a reminder to everyone that they are violent and utterly intolerant individuals.
The Marxist virus has infected every college campus.
These liberal students are only going to be there for four years or less, and never go back to the campus once they leave the school. Why should they have any say, or complain about any memorial that is placed there, especially since no one is asking them to contribute to it.
In my younger years and even today, I’ve always believed no one has any smarts or common sense until the age of 25 - when someone reached 25, and if warranted, I raised it to 35 and then - yep - you guessed it - it got to 45...A neighbor once said, “I’m 25 today. Am I smart now?” It was “yes” for her but that wasn’t always the case.
Same with the college students at the university in UT AND every one across the country with an exception made for Hillsdale...
Frightening and they’ll be running the country some day?? No different from watching the hippies in the ‘60’s, I guess. They never learned either! They ran for state/federal office/congress.....
The statue doesn’t belong there because it is pure politics.
Overflow from the West Coast ... they did it to Oregon, Washington and they will drag their Satanist values with them wherever they go.
Rename a building on campus for Charlie and see how that gets handled. “Charlie Kirk Memorial Hall” with a warning that the name has a 24-hour monitoring camera aimed at it would certainly defang many of them.
Sad how education system screws up so many youth these days.
Put a statue up at Hillsdale College where it will be appreciated. There are other statues of great Americans there already. Charlie has an honorary doctorate from there anyway
“The UVU Students for a Democratic Society led the protests this week.”
Those students should be removed from the campus. Why would anyone want people like that at their school?
“Abagael”. This weird spelling is where she started her descent into liberalism
Some will wear, We are Charlie shirts. The protesters will wear We are Tyler shirts. this is true.
Excellent idea for Hillsdale College. A short 25 minutes from my home.
“Sad how education system screws up so many youth these days.”
I went to private Universities.
Public Universities suck!
Public Universities are very
political, virtually unlimited
income, they don’t care, so
they are political.
Private Universities will go broke
if they don’t educate.
I once had a class where the Prof
got on bitching about Republicans.
made an appointment with the dean.
I explained I’m paying over $1000
for this class to learn what he knows,
not what he believes. It was a
advanced Math class.
Problem was fixed.
I think I earned a “B” in that class.
I was an older, working, married student,
Vietnam era Vet,
Not the usual student.
Hopefully my complaint helped a lot of younger
people just starting out in life.
Well, no one wants the protestor’s either, so...
I’d love to see ALL federal dollars yanked from ALL colleges. Why do we have to pay for this crap?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.