On Sept. 10, American political activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at a debate at Utah Valley University in Provo, Utah, sending shockwaves across the country, including at Wayne State College.
Members of all political parties were weighing in with their thoughts, opinions and disbelief at what is now considered a potential political assassination. Despite the various conversations beginning to arise following his death, one seemed to stick with the nation: What does this mean for our free speech?
Many across the Wayne State campus have weighed in with their thoughts on the situation.
Many across the Wayne State campus have weighed in with their thoughts on the situation.
“Obviously, no one deserves to die for their political views, but, if we are going to kill people for their political views, or just them voicing their thoughts, then everyone’s rights are in trouble,” senior criminal justice major and forensics minor Canton Lippincott said.
“Here’s the thing, there’s a difference between a comment related to free speech or having an opinion that doesn’t agree with other people and having an opinion so strong that you are trying to remove people’s rights,” senior English literature and creative writing major Tommy Stromer said.
As Kirk’s operation focused on debating college level individuals and his death occurred on a college campus, much of the national attention has been turned to college campuses, professors and students.
“What I have seen on campus is a range of individuals being nervous, feeling intimidated, even if it’s not a direct personal threat to them,” Jenny Miller, an assistant professor of political science at WSC, said. “Many, many people now feel like they’re intimidated. Not simply because of potential government overreach, but because of other people.”
“This idea that we have that people can’t talk about politics or religion means we don’t know how to talk about politics or religion,” Teresa Morales, a professor of communications at WSC, said.
The incident marked a tonal shift on many campuses across the country, with conversations around political violence and censorship taking place across WSC and other schools. By the end of last week, WSC faculty and staff had received an email from Paul Turman, the Nebraska State College System Chancellor, encouraging them to “be thoughtful of how comments made in the public sphere may be perceived.”
“There’s a lot of people fighting over, one, their political views, and two, their justification for what has happened,” Lippincott said.
“I do think there might be more feelings of tension,” Stromer said.
“At first, it might embolden students to speak out more, because it’s time for students to speak out,” Morales said. “I don’t know how long that will last. In Wayne, I don’t know that it will make much difference at all.”
Miller said, though, that dialogue will be vital for working through any of the existing tensions on campus and beyond.
“If folks are engaging in political violence to address concerns, that’s not actually letting us have an effective discussion,” Miller said. “My concern is, as political violence increases, we need to consider what additional effects is that having. Does it make harder to have political conversations? Does it make harder to have civil disagreement, which I think is a critical thing we need to address in the United States.”
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