UVU students protest memorial plan for slain conservative leader Charlie Kirk

A Utah Valley University (UVU) committee’s plan to honor the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk is being met by some students with organized protests against the proposed memorial.

Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was assassinated at UVU on Sept. 10, 2025. The university has since announced the creation of a memorial committee to honor his legacy and help the community heal. But some student activists are opposing the idea, saying a memorial could be divisive and political.

The first protest, organized by the group UVU Students for a Democratic Society, took place on Tuesday in the university’s main courtyard. “We’re out here because we want to protest any sort of Charlie Kirk memorial,” student protester Collin Grannis told KSTU. “We don’t want his likeness on campus; we don’t want his likeness sort of immortalized.”

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Another protester, student Abagael Woods, claimed that such a memorial could cause further harm on campus. “For one thing, it’s going to get vandalized — there’s no way it’s not,” Woods told KSTU. “And it’s going to re-traumatize a bunch of people.”

Woods suggested the university focus on a “memorial for unity” instead, proposing ideas like therapy dogs on campus.

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.

Michael Holmes, a UVU student who witnessed the Sept. 10 shooting, said the university owes both Kirk and the campus community a formal tribute. “I think a memorial is the least that they can do,” Holmes told KSTU. “This would be a great thing for UVU because it’s allowing people to heal through the right people taking responsibility ... Unfortunately, UVU now has a legacy of blood.”

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UVU has already released a statement outlining the UVU Memorial Committee, which will be co-chaired by UVU Board of Trustees chair and Qualtrics co-founder Scott M. Smith and Utah Board of Higher Education chair Amanda Covington.

“As a committee, we will listen to community voices and carefully consider the many perspectives surrounding this memorial,” Covington said in the university’s statement. “This is an important process, and we are committed to approaching it with thoughtfulness and respect.”

Campus Reform has contacted UVU for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.