By Timothy Ritterbusch, Staff Writer
Walking out of Billy Graham Hall on Sept. 10, junior communications major Elena Fromm received a text from her brother saying that conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot. Her initial reaction was shock.
“I was like, I don’t even know what to think about this. That’s crazy.”
After Fromm saw that Kirk had died, she broke down in tears. “I was crying, and it was really sad to think that through,” she said. “Not because he was perfect, but because that shouldn’t happen.”
Kirk was shot at Utah Valley University while on his American Comeback Tour. He was known for traveling across the country to debate students at college campuses, engaging college students through his organization, Turning Point USA (TPUSA).
Turning Point has chapters at colleges and universities across the country. While TPUSA is not currently chartered at Wheaton College or affiliated with the school, as it was in previous years, some students still participate in a chapter that meets on campus.
The day after Kirk’s death, the chaplain’s office sent out an email condemning political violence, calling for peace and providing resources for students struggling with the events. “Let us answer hostility with holiness, injury with integrity, and provocation with peace,” the email said.
Kirk’s death put a spotlight on speaker policies and security practices at several universities. However, Dean of Student Engagement Steve Ivester, overseer of the Visiting Speaker Policy for Wheaton College, says that changes are unlikely as the school’s policy allows for case-by-case interpretations.
“We are seeing the visiting speaker policy as a way of helping us thoughtfully engage and be prepared, so there are some scenarios that might require more conversation,” Ivester said. “We might have a different outcome now because of what just happened, and we might want to be considerate of the political climate.”
Wheaton students held a memorial for Charlie Kirk outside of Edman Chapel on Sept. 19. About 10 to 12 students attended. Junior political science major Henry Quekemeyer, president of Wheaton’s TPUSA chapter, emphasized that the event was intended to honor Kirk’s legacy and was independent of Turning Point. Quekemeyer appreciated the opportunity to “honor not only the Kirk family, not only what he stood for.”
The memorial included “a call to prayer for the nation and the entire international church,” Quekemeyer said.
Owen Lambert, a junior political science major and vice president of the local TPUSA chapter, cited Kirk’s Christianity as the reason he attended the event. “I think that whether or not we observe at Wheaton College that he was conservative or far right, he was able to represent Christ — and I think that’s worth honoring at this sort of gathering.”
While many are shocked and sad about Kirk’s death, his legacy is complicated for some, particularly given how Turning Point included Wheaton professors on their professor watchlist. Wheaton’s Turning Point USA chapter drew controversy in 2023 for hosting conservative podcaster Brandon Tatum, particularly when the conversation addressed Tatum’s stated belief that Jesus Christ was not divine.
On campus, students, staff and faculty continue to grapple with the death of Kirk. Sophomore environmental science major Nigel Cronin said, “I think it’s important to address all your opponent’s claims, and he didn’t seem to be super open to others’ ideas.”
Campus groups and faculty have also facilitated discussion. Last Thursday, the Alexander Hamilton Society (AHS) held a roundtable on domestic terrorism and political violence. AHS vice president Megan Heydt, who led the discussion, said that while AHS had been interested in doing such an event previously, Kirk’s death brought it to the forefront of their attention. “I knew that people would be eager to talk about it,” Heydt said. “You could see as soon as the news of Charlie Kirk was out, everybody was talking about it, so it was something I felt like we should address.”
Professors have also addressed the events in the classroom. Professor of anthropology Brian Howell led a discussion in his Culture Theory class about the events the following Tuesday. “ It was a good conversation and I learned a lot from them about what they were feeling and what they were hearing on campus,” Howell said.
For Fromm, Kirk’s death has led to numerous changes in how she sees politics. She has begun creating pro-life content on Instagram and TikTok and says that Kirk’s death has reminded her that “it’s serious to talk about what you believe in.”
Editor’s note: A former version of the article said that Steve Ivester was the Dean of Student Involvement. The Record regrets the error. The article was also updated to clarify the subject of Quekemeyer’s quote.
