‘His Death Felt Personal’: Six Conservative Students on Charlie Kirk

Opinion|‘His Death Felt Personal’: Six Conservative Students on Charlie Kirk

Today’s college conservatives grew up in Charlie Kirk’s Republican Party — watching his “prove me wrong” videos, following his social media campaigns or debating his often-controversial views when he came to campus. Times Opinion turned to some of them to understand how they are grappling with the killing of the campus conservative movement’s ubiquitous star.

We Don’t Want Echo Chambers

By Peter McHugh, editor in chief of The Jefferson Independent, a student-run independent news publication at the University of Virginia

My classmates all knew of Charlie Kirk, and if not, they had certainly heard his rhetoric. His campus visits regularly appeared on our social media feeds, creating the illusion of connection that older, “distant” politicians and pundits often lacked. Because of this immediacy, his death felt personal, creating a rupture in what should be one of the safest spaces for dialogue: the college campus.

Many of my classmates now fear political engagement. I am a member of several student-led groups dedicated to civil discourse, and I have seen firsthand how many students crave debate and conversation. We do not want echo chambers. We strive for the opposite.

But now, even those committed to many of the things Mr. Kirk encouraged — conversation, political engagement — are questioning if it is worth the risk. This morning, another writer at The Jefferson Independent confided that they would never again attend a university-sponsored political event. The fear that controversial speech can provoke genuine violence is no longer theoretical for students, but real.