Left-wing student organizations at Utah Valley University are openly planning to disrupt a memorial event honoring the late Charlie Kirk, scheduled for September 10.
The event, titled “Freedom Built to Last, Honoring Charlie Kirk,” is being organized by Turning Point USA at the UCCU Center, a campus arena partially owned by Utah County and available for rental. It marks the one-year anniversary of Kirk’s assassination on the UVU campus. Turning Point USA describes the gathering as a tribute honoring Kirk “as a faith-filled husband, father, and defender of free speech,” and frames it as both a memorial and a call for supporters to carry on his work.
Confirmed speakers include commentator Glenn Beck, Christian apologist Frank Turek, and TPUSA field officer Andrew Sypher. The event is ticketed, private, and will include security measures, according to a report from The College Fix.
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UVU had previously announced that classes and most campus operations would be suspended on September 10 to allow time for healing, reflection, service, and community connection. University administrators noted that the UCCU Center would remain open to host the privately organized TPUSA event.
That decision has drawn sharp pushback from several student groups. The UVU chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, the Community Defense Club of UVU, the national SDS chapter, and a group called “The Black Menaces” have all signed on to a joint statement calling for a protest. “We will not stand for this,” the groups said.
The coalition argued that the university’s decision to keep the arena open for the event amounts to an institutional endorsement. “The UVU administration has closed campus that day, and has endorsed this event, which is an endorsement of the views of Turning Point and Charlie Kirk,” the statement read. The groups called on students to protest what they described as “racism, homophobia, bigotry and hate,” and demanded that Kirk’s views not be tolerated on campus.
Flyers distributed across campus echoed that message. One poster read: “UVU has supported a Turning Point event being held at the UCCU Center on the 10th. This has aligned the UVU admin with TPUSA and broken their neutrality on the matter. On the 10th we will be protesting TPUSA, UVU admin, and the Utah County Commissioners who organized.”
Audio obtained by The Cougar Chronicle captured SDS chapter president Collin Grannis discussing the protest plans in more detail. Grannis confirmed the group was also organizing what he called an “ICE out event.” He added, “We’ll need to take the fight and make sure that UVU knows that there shouldn’t be a memorial on campus.”
The memorial event is set to proceed as planned on September 10, with organizers indicating that security will be in place throughout.
