With Thursday marking one year since right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at Utah Valley University just months after a contentious visit to USC, students reflected on his polarizing legacy and the effects his assassination has had on political discourse.
“I don’t think I would have been overtly political even before,” said Vincent Kurniawidjaja, a graduate student studying law. “Now, there’s an added concern of ‘I don’t want to get shot.’”
Channing Mack, president of the student-run USC Political Union, said he believes Kirk’s role in advocating for what he believed in was essential to public political discourse.
“As divisive a figure as Charlie was, I think it is important to acknowledge the foundation of what he promoted, free speech and civil discourse,” Mack said in an email statement. “These principles are essential, should be protected and practiced, and no one should lose their life for expressing them.”
Some of Kirk’s controversial opinions were on display when hundreds flocked to Tommy Trojan for his visit to USC in March 2025 as part of his national “The American Comeback Tour.” Topics included white privilege, abortion rights and the value of college.
The USC event was advertised as a chance to prove Kirk wrong by USC’s chapter of Turning Point USA, a national student organization founded by Kirk, a part of his debate-oriented style that was known for creating viral social media moments.
“The whole title of ‘prove me wrong,’ that whole concept of going against each other versus actually trying to come together and find a middle ground. That’s not his intention. He’s trying to trigger people,” Safiya Nicol, then a junior, told Annenberg Media at the event. “I think that he tries to find certain things to grasp onto just so that he can grow his platform.”
USC’s Turning Point chapter hosted a vigil for Kirk the day after his death at 31, with multiple attendees discussing the political climate that they said led to the assassination.
“This event is a turning point,” Luca Yeghnazar, a member of the Turning Point USA chapter at USC, said in a speech at the vigil, according to previous Annenberg Media reporting.
Kirk, a supporter of President Donald Trump’s first run for the Oval Office in 2016, received tributes from Trump and other prominent Republicans after his death.
On Thursday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox declared every September 10th “Charlie Kirk Day,” while attendees at Trump’s midterm Republican National Convention reportedly broke out into “Charlie, Charlie” chants.
Turning Point USA also held a memorial on Utah Valley University’s campus, which was promoted on the group’s USC chapter’s Instagram. The school canceled all classes for the event.
Despite his gruesome death, which was broadcast to many without filters via social media, Kirk’s online presence has largely shifted to internet memes. Some involve his face being placed on various celebrities or dancing while his name has also been used in slang terms and the viral AI-created song “We Are Charlie Kirk.”
“I see very broadly Kirk’s death being considered with Kirk as more of a joke than anything else,” said Aditya Singh, a sophomore majoring in economics. “He’s really not taken seriously.”
While noting that any political violence is awful, Singh also said it was OK to be critical of Kirk’s views and actions.
“People are killed every day. Just because somebody is killed doesn’t mean that they automatically deserve a memorial,” Singh said. ”I think we are really trying to erase and scrub what he actually was as a person.”
Edited by Sean Campbell.