(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it obtained 133 pages of records from Utah Valley University (UVU) through a Utah Government Records Access and Management Act (GRAMA) request revealing sharply anti-Charlie Kirk messages from individuals identified as university faculty or instructors in the weeks following Kirk’s assassination on the UVU campus.
Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was killed on September 10, 2025, while kicking off a speaking tour at college campuses.
The records, obtained through public-records request for emails and text messages concerning Kirk involving then-UVU President Astrid S. Tuminez, include a September 22 email apparently written by a UVU instructor to President Tuminez. The writer referred to “students we are trying to educate” and attacked Kirk in stark terms:
Charlie Kirk appealed to the worst of us. He spoke his prejudices openly, not to test free speech, but to shape minds. He targeted impressionable youth, feeding on their fears and anxieties….
The hidden message in his rants was clear: hate is natural, and to resist it is to deny who you are. Hate masquerading as justice is nothing of the sort. True justice seeks fairness, accountability, and protection for all, while hate targets, divides, and destroys….
That is why we must resist any effort to memorialize him or turn him into an icon…. Charlie Kirk did not stand for civility, compassion, or truth. There was nothing civil about him.
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To memorialize him would be a grave mistake.
In a November 4, 2025, email a self-described “faculty member” at UVU writes:
I’ve had a hard time dealing with the aftermath of the shooting on our campus, and in particular, I cannot understand how people could support or mourn someone who was so divisive and spewed such vituperation in his “debates.” I regret that he was invited to UVU at all, and wish you had rethought the decision to allow him a forum on our campus.
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Also, there has been talk of a memorial to Charlie Kirk that will be placed on the UVU campus. The legislature seems determined to make it happen, and they have enormous power in Utah. I ask you to resist their desire to desecrate our campus with a memorial to such a divisive and hateful public figure. Please do not let it happen. It does not align with our brand of inclusiveness and welcoming. Should a memorial to him be erected on our campus, I fear you will lose many faculty members, including myself.
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I would not work at a university that supports Charlie Kirk’s ideals in any way.
The records reveal that just nine days after Kirk was assassinated, a person whose name is redacted was already proposing a $1 million fundraising effort called “Our Better Selves for a Better America.”
I would like to raise $1 million for this proposal. I took the liberty of starting a draft. I’d like a very quick turnaround so I can fundraise quickly. I have one pledge for $100k. I would like to raise the other $900k quickly.
UVU subsequently established “Our Better Selves for a Better America” as a university-wide initiative focused on civil dialogue, disagreement, conflict resolution, and civic responsibility.
The newly released records show that, behind the university’s public appeals for unity and free expression, some members of the UVU faculty were expressing a very negative attitude toward Kirk and his supporters.
“Charlie Kirk was assassinated while exercising his right to speak on a college campus,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “These records reveal that, even as Utah Valley University publicly called for free expression and civil discourse, some faculty members were making hateful and vicious comments about him, objecting to his invitation to campus, and threatening to leave if his memory were honored.”
In July 2026, Judicial Watch obtained records from Utah Valley University through this same records request detailing the university’s efforts to immediately pave over the site where Kirk was murdered.
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