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


Students and faculty gathered at a Saturday vigil on Widener Library steps to mourn the death of Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist who was killed at Utah Valley University last week. By Ellen P. Cassidy

By Cam N. Srivastava and Tanya J. Vidhun, Crimson Staff Writers
17 hours ago

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.

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