More Than 100 Students, Faculty Hold Vigil To Mourn Killing of Charlie Kirk

More than 100 students and faculty gathered on the steps of Widener Library for a Saturday night vigil to honor the life of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and condemn his slaying last week.

At the vigil, which was organized by Harvard Law School students and publicized by various conservative student groups, speakers described Kirk’s activism as a model for vigorous debate on college campuses.

Mason R. Laney, a third-year student at HLS and event organizer, said that it was particularly important to honor Kirk at Harvard because he defended conservative beliefs that were often the “minority point of view” at universities.

“We felt it important that not only we host an event like this, but we do it here at Harvard, because Harvard needs to remember Charlie Kirk,” Laney said. “And it’s why we have to do in public — it’s why we have to own what we believe, because that’s what he did.”

Kirk emerged as a prominent voice on the American right after his 2012 founding of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit that trains high school and college students to promote conservative viewpoints in their institutions. He made frequent public appearances at conferences and schools, where he often debated liberal students, and spearheaded a “Professor Watchlist” that profiles academics for allegedly spreading “leftist propaganda” in their classrooms.

After Kirk was shot during a public debate at Utah Valley University on Saturday, public figures on both sides of the aisle hastened to condemn his killing as an act of political violence. But Kirk’s death also turned up the rhetorical heat in some quarters, with some posters celebrating his assassination on social media — and nearly two dozen congressional Republicans joining President Donald Trump in blaming the “radical left.”

Benjamin R. Paris, a third-year student at HLS, said in a speech at the Saturday vigil that Kirk’s death joined a “lamentable” trend of political violence, including the assassination of Melissa Hortman and attempted killings of Trump and Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.

Kirk, said Paris, did not have “particularly extreme views.”

“If somebody cannot go to a college campus, the place of learning, the public square, the most reasonable public square there should be, and speak his mind, say things that people have believed for thousands of years, say simple, honest truths the Founding Fathers have laid as the moral foundation of our society — if you can’t say that without risking life or limb, America is in a very dark place,” Paris said.

Top-level administrators at Harvard have not issued public statements on Kirk’s killing, but several student groups across the University condemned it as an act of political violence. On Friday, College Dean David J. Deming pledged to protect conservative undergraduates and ensure their safety at a gathering of right-leaning student groups.

The motives of Kirk’s suspected killer, 22-year-old Tyler J. Robinson of Utah, remain obscure. Robinson inscribed his bullet casings with phrases drawn from video game slang, including a sexual meme and the words “hey fascist! CATCH!” — but it is unclear whether his killing of Kirk on Wednesday was driven by political beliefs.

In a speech at Saturday’s vigil, HLS professor Stephen E. Sachs ’02 said he was initially unsure whether to accept the invitation to speak, in part because of the predominantly liberal makeup of Harvard’s students and faculty.

“I was apprehensive that in a place like Harvard, mourning Charlie Kirk would make one a target of opprobrium or disgust,” said Sachs, who is the faculty adviser of the Harvard Federalist Society, one of the groups that promoted the vigil.

He argued that affiliates should not have to adopt or defend Kirk’s viewpoints in order to speak out against the killing.

“I feel that no one here should feel it their burden to defend everything that other people might believe in order to mourn his unjust death,” he said.

HLS professor Randall L. Kennedy — an advocate of free speech at Harvard who teaches criminal law and race relations — did not speak to Kirk’s political legacy, but offered condolences to the group.

“It’s my great hope that in the days, in the weeks, and in the months to come, we can offer one another solace in this deeply troubled moment,” Kennedy said.

Economics professor Jason Furman ’92 attended but did not speak at the vigil. He said in an interview afterward that he joined the vigil to better understand the pain students on campus may be feeling in the wake of Kirk’s murder.

He said that his own views are “rather different” from those embraced by conservative groups at Harvard, but he approved of what he described as the groups’ new prominence in campus life over the past year.

“My perception is there are more conservatives who are out, loud, and proud,” Furman said. “And I think that’s a very constructive thing.”

Before dispersing, organizers held a moment of silence for Kirk and lit candles as dusk settled over Harvard Yard.

—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.

—Staff writer Tanya J. Vidhun can be reached at tanya.vidhun@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @tanyavidhun.