Academics blast Charlie Kirk on social media after Utah assassination

after Charlie Kirk After his assassination at Utah Valley University in Orem last month, American academics across the country took to social media to criticize the conservative leader as dangerous.

Matthew Reznitsky is an associate professor of medical humanities at U.S University of Minnesota.

“Professors have been subjected to political violence because of Kirk and the culture he introduced, a culture that is being whitewashed,” he said in a September 13 post on the left-leaning social media platform Bluesky.

Law enforcement shuts down an area after Charlie Kirk, CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot at Utah Valley University, Wednesday, September 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (Tess Crowley/Deseret News via AP)

Universities are cracking down on social media posts in which staff celebrate and defend Kirk’s death

Reznicek’s objection, like that of many of his colleagues, stems from an opinion piece titled “Charlie Kirk was doing politics the right wayby Ezra Klein, published in The New York Times.

The Minnesota academic later insulted Kirk’s mind.

“The thing about memorializing Kirk as the Socrates of our time, who was willing to debate me, brother, anywhere, anytime, is how he was also a know-nothing,” Reznicek said.

Chris Lamb, professor emeritus of journalism at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, who boasts about being on Turning Point’s “Professor Watch ListHe also claimed that Kirk and Turning Point caused violence.

“I’m on Professor Charlie Kirk’s watch list. I know professors who have been harassed and threatened after appearing on the list. Others have been physically assaulted. Kirk’s murder is a tragedy – like any murder. But let’s not praise Charlie Kirk. He was upset,” he said on Bluesky.

Lamb declined to provide evidence for this claim.

Charlie Kirk hands out hats before speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, September 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/Deseret News via AP)

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“I will not give you the name of a college professor or teacher who was harassed and threatened after being targeted by TPUSA, and by giving that name, put the person in harm’s way (again),” he told Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital pointed to a documentary called “Surviving Turning Point USA” produced by an academic in Arizona. Lamb was interviewed in the film, and referred to the turning point as the “Hitler Youth.”

Other academics on the professor’s watchlist were interviewed in this documentary, but none provided evidence of threats or violence resulting from the list. One of the professors in the film says she didn’t know she was on the list until the director reached out to her.

The film tells the story of Ken Story, a former University of Tampa professor who was fired in 2017 after Turning Point USA and national media highlighted a post he made on X, and then Twitter, celebrating the devastating Hurricane Harvey that struck Texas that year.

“I don’t believe in instant karma, but this sounds like it for Texas. Hopefully this will help them realize that the GOP doesn’t care about them,” Story’s post said. He later doubled down on his suggestion that it was Floridians who voted for the president Donald Trump He deserved the same fate.

Attendees hold posters of Charlie Kirk during a Turning Point USA event at Northrop Hall on the University of Minnesota campus on Monday, September 22, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Stephen Maturin/Getty Images)

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University of Tampa Story launched. He received threatening voicemails that were shown in the film.

Lamb doubled down on his disdain for Kirk in his response on Fox News Digital.

“I’m sad about The murder of Charlie Kirk“I didn’t like it,” he said. I found him offensive. He was a fanatic who perpetuated false conspiracies. This is confirmed by his own words. “He took advantage of the politics of hatred and division.”

“But there was more to him than the other instigators,” Lamb said. “He was married with two young children. Perhaps that would have motivated him to become a better version of himself had he survived.” “It’s happened before. He wasn’t afraid to engage with people who disagreed with him. That’s what sets him apart. America really needs someone who can engage us — rather than further divide us. Maybe he could have become one of those people. We’ll never know.”

Jeremy Leitao, who teaches journalism at Lehigh University, also shared his colleagues’ sentiments in response to Klein’s think piece.

“I have two fellow professors who faced threats and harassment because of the organization Charlie Kirk created, and they were not alone,” he said on social media the day after Kirk was killed. “We can condemn and abhor political violence without praising its victims. This is dangerous nonsense.”

Erica Kirk speaks during a memorial service for her husband, political activist Charlie Kirk, at State Farm Stadium on September 21, 2025, in Glendale, Arizona. (Wayne McNamee/Getty Images)

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He continued: “The biggest problem is that a large segment of America had not heard of Kirk until yesterday.” “Every piece in the major media about him is an introduction to many, so granting him a long-term sense of sanctity creates permission for the dangerous backlash that I fear is coming.”

Reznicek and Leitao did not respond to requests for comment seeking proof of their allegations of threats, violence and harassment.

In 2023, it was a professor at Arizona State University named David Boyles Two Turning Point activists confronted her On campus. One was filming and the other was asking questions about the LGBTQ content in his courses. Eventually, Boyles pulled the camera away from him, leading to a physical confrontation.

Stacy Patton is a professor of communications at Howard University. In the five weeks since Kirk’s death, she has dropped him several times on her personal blog.

A photo of Charlie Kirk, his children, and his wife, Erika, after an all-member memorial service in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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In an article titled “I’m Charlie Kirk is the New Way to Admit You’re a Racist. Thanks for the Warning,” I compared people who use the phrase to Nazi youth boss Baldur Benedikt von Schirach, Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, leader of the Nazi SS, and George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party, as well as segregationists and members KKK.

The phrase “I’m Charlie Kirk” has become ubiquitous among his millions of supporters since his death.

Patton explained that her article was not meant to be taken literally.

“The article is a layered piece of rhetoric, not a number of fascists,” she told Fox News Digital. “Saying ‘I am Charlie Kirk’ is a literary device, a historical metaphor that traces the ideological lineage of fascism, not a literal equivalence.”

A portrait of slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk has been placed on a memorial in his honor, at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The State Department said it had canceled the visas of several foreigners due to negative comments about Kirk’s assassination. (Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

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She further explained that she “drew a historical line between Goebbels’s techniques and the rhetorical tactics of contemporary demagogues.”

Patton declined to comment when asked if she believed a speech similar to hers could have contributed to Kirk’s assassination.