Charlie Kirk speaking on June 15, 2018. (Gage Skidmore/flickr)
In light of Donald Trump’s recent reelection to the presidency, I feel this piece is more important than ever. With Trump taking office, Charlie Kirk and people like him will feel more emboldened than ever to take to our campus along with many others and spread hate speech. The University of Colorado Boulder should take preventive action now and protect its student body.
On Sept. 9, a tense political event took place on CU Boulder’s campus, just hours before then-presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris were scheduled to take the stage for the only meeting between the two candidates in one of the most hotly contested political events of this election cycle.
Charlie Kirk is a prominent influencer and personality who is the co-founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative organization whose focus is the promotion of conservative values to high school and college students.
Those familiar with Kirk may be aware of his controversial background. In the past, he questioned COVID-19 and promoted conspiracies around the 2020 election and widespread voter fraud. However, none of this is enough to discredit a person in this day and age.
During his visit to CU Boulder, Kirk set up shop on the plaza next to the University Memorial Center, ready to engage with eager supporters in MAGA hats and equally eager dissenters. This visit to CU Boulder was part of Kirk’s ‘Brainwashed Tour.’ I hope we can see the irony there.
I understand just how slippery of a slope the debate is about when freedom of speech crosses a line. Universities should be a space where freedom of speech and expression is permitted above all else. It is something that universities like CU Boulder take pride in.
But freedom of speech protections should only go so far.
Many students are familiar with religious folks seeking to convert us, protests held to defund police, support Palestine, support Israel and more. These all fall under the protection of free speech. In the case of Charlie Kirk, things are different.
Freedom of speech has a breaking point and not all speech should be protected.
According to the American Library Association, “Hate speech is any form of expression through which speakers intend to vilify, humiliate or incite hatred against a group or a class of persons on the basis of race, religion, skin color, sexual identity, gender identity, ethnicity, disability or national origin.”
Though hate speech is considered protected speech under the First Amendment, the university itself has also formed its own policies.
CU Boulder’s policy on this states, “Speech is not protected when it constitutes discrimination or harassment targeted at an individual or defined group of individuals based on protected-class identity.”
Now if you know Charlie Kirk, you know he toes this line often.
“I feel safe walking around the streets of Tokyo at night because they don’t have a bunch of foreigners raping people in their cities,” Kirk said during his visit to CU Boulder. He later went on to claim, “They don’t allow Haitians and Guatemalans and Nicaraguans to run amuck.”
That all sounds hateful to me. It directly targets a group based on national origin.
Kirk then went on to march in lockstep with his preferred presidential candidate and out came the eating of pets. This claim has been debunked by many news sources. It is a lie and perfectly fits the American Library Association’s definition of hate speech.
Is Charlie Kirk entitled to his opinions? Sure. But he should not be allowed to spread the vile hate speech that he did on our campus. The university’s Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance stipulates that harassment and discrimination are not tolerated on Boulder’s campus and the language Kirk used on Sept. 9 clearly crossed that line.
As we look towards what will be a very dark next four years, the university needs to back up its own definition of hate speech and do what is right: keep hateful speech off its campus and protect its students.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Eli Briselden-Bayuk at eli.briselden-bayuk@colorado.edu.
