Charlie Kirk died for free speech and universities still have nothing to say

When a man is publicly executed for his views on a university campus, one would expect institutions of higher education to respond immediately — if only to confront the chilling effect such violence unleashes. One would expect them to reassure students that their campus remains a place for free inquiry. One would expect them to guarantee that future speakers of every political persuasion are not only welcome but safe from mortal threat. Yet following the gruesome assassination of conservative icon Charlie Kirk, universities have remained largely silent.

This silence is a far cry from the deafening chorus that followed George Floyd’s death in 2020, when student inboxes overflowed with moralizing emails from university presidents, provosts, deans and entire departments. At my alma mater, the University of Chicago, Dean of Students Jay Ellison declared Floyd "murdered" before any court had ruled; Provost Ka Yee C. Lee pronounced Floyd’s death "racially motivated"; and President Robert J. Zimmer claimed "true freedom and equality" were out of reach in America.

Departments piled on too: the English Department limited graduate admissions to only those in Black studies; the Physics Department ordered participation in a day-long work stoppage in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter riots; and the History Department pledged allegiance to the Marxist, fraudulent Black Lives Matter organization. Not one of these statements condemned the riots destroying American cities — instead, they sanctified them as "justice."

COLLEGES WARNED NOT TO INVOKE CHARLIE KIRK’S DEATH TO SILENCE FREE SPEECH, UNFAIRLY HIKE SECURITY COSTS

Ironically, the University of Chicago brags about its "Chicago Principles," which commit the school to open debate and free inquiry, and its "Kalven Report," which declares the university’s institutional neutrality on political and social issues to protect that freedom. Don’t be fooled. These commitments are marketing brochures for donors, not the reality on campus.

What is more relevant to the University of Chicago: the death of George Floyd, which became a rallying point for riots and extreme racial politics, or the public killing of an innocent man on a campus — an act that will inevitably chill university free speech nationwide? The answer is obvious.

It’s not just Chicago. This week, The Federalist contacted Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Penn, Cornell, Brown, Columbia and Dartmouth, as well as a host of other major institutions. Every single one had issued grandiose statements about Floyd. Not one had a word to say about Charlie’s assassination.

Charlie would have predicted this double standard. It’s why he dedicated himself to college campuses; he understood the heart of the left’s movement beats in the academy — an institution that has been steadily conquered by Marxism.

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Universities were once entirely Christian and rooted in the pursuit of knowing God and cultivating virtue. Today’s woke curricula peddle fake grievance disciplines such as fat studies and queer studies and actively question whether "truth" exists at all.

Marxism, by its very nature, is hostile to truth (God) and to peace. To Marxists, there is no divine authority — only power struggles between the haves and have-nots. Raw power itself becomes the closest thing to a god, and violence is always justified as the engine of "progress." That’s why radical trans activists feel righteous when they attack Christian schoolchildren they brand as oppressors, and why BLM rioters felt justified burning cities. In their worldview, violence isn’t wrong — it’s necessary.

Educating young people in knowledge but not in virtue is a recipe for disaster. The 2020 summer of rage — and the glorification of accused UnitedHealthcare CEO-killer Luigi Mangione — shows this in stark relief.

TOP CONSERVATIVE SPEAKERS VOW THEY 'WILL NOT BE SILENCED' AFTER CHARLIE KIRK'S ASSASSINATION

This is why Charlie Kirk is a martyr. He died because he dared to speak truth, informed by his Christian faith, in the very temples where lies are taught. His presence on campus was a rebuke to the indoctrination machine, and his murder was the curriculum made flesh.

Many locals and students returning to campus on Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, stopped by a memorial at Utah Valley University to pay their respects to conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on Sept. 10, 2025.  (Fox News Digital/Deirdre Heavey)

What happened to Charlie was not unforeseeable; it was the endpoint of a long, visible trajectory. In 2017, at UC Berkeley — the so-called birthplace of the free speech movement — a mob of students set fires, injured bystanders and caused more than $100,000 in damage to stop right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos from speaking. That night of violence cascaded into the collapse of Milo’s entire campus tour as venues backed out and security costs skyrocketed. The mob didn’t just silence one speech — they silenced every future event.

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Charlie began touring campuses after many major conservative speakers had given up. He secured insurance, hired security, bravely pressed forward — and was murdered for it. 

Charlie Kirk speaks at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025 in Orem, Utah, prior to his assassination. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)

If Charlie, with his resources and courage, could not survive a campus tour, who else can? Multimillionaire Ben Shapiro, backed by his multimillion-dollar company The Daily Wire, has vowed to take up the cause. Good on him. But how many others can afford the millions in premiums, guards and legal exposure? Courage alone cannot pay the bills. Conviction alone cannot cover the liability. In today’s America, the First Amendment is being slowly repealed not by law, but by liability.

Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk is seen onstage at the Fiserv Forum during preparations for the Republican National Convention on July 14, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

And the universities? They are not neutral. Despite their billion-dollar endowments and steady flow of taxpayer subsidies, since Charlie’s assassination last week, America’s universities have offered little assurance they will foster or physically protect the free exchange of ideas. Their silence does not come across as neutrality — it leans toward complicity. And that’s no surprise. Their curricula have long been seedbeds for the ideology that fueled both the George Floyd 2020 summer of rage and, now, Charlie’s assassination.

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Make no mistake: there is symbolism in the fact that Charlie was killed by a shot in the neck. His voice was silenced. He will never again step onto a campus stage, and students will never again witness him in action. 

Now, Charlie’s voice is gone. He will never again step onto a campus stage, and students will never again witness him in action. And with their silence, universities are saying what they really think: Charlie’s words were never welcome.

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