Turning Point USA will return Thursday to Utah Valley University for a memorial marking one year since founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated on campus, while a student organization plans to protest outside the event and objects to the university’s decision to close for the anniversary.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Turning Point USA will return Thursday to the Utah Valley University campus where founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated one year ago, holding a memorial that has drawn opposition from a student organization planning a protest shortly before the event begins.
The “Freedom Built to Last” memorial is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Sept. 10 at the UCCU Center in Orem, with doors opening at 4 p.m. The gathering marks exactly one year since Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at a campus event attended by thousands of people.
Utah Valley University will close regular campus operations Thursday, a decision that some students have criticized in connection with the Turning Point event. The university, however, says the closure is intended to “provide time and space for reflection, service and connection” following the anniversary and stresses that the memorial is privately organized rather than sponsored by UVU.
“As an institution, it’s important that we stay apolitical, that we don’t jump in the fray,” UVU President Jon Anderson told the Salt Lake Tribune. “Any entity could’ve used that space, and they chose to have that day. And we allowed them to do that.”
Anderson said the university will provide security because of the size of the gathering and the potential for controversy surrounding it. He has also said the school does not intend to close each year on the anniversary, describing this year’s decision as recognition that members of the campus community remain at different stages of processing Kirk’s killing.
UVU’s Students for a Democratic Society chapter is planning a protest for 6:15 p.m., 15 minutes before the memorial begins. The group’s open letter, which had collected more than 600 signatures according to the Tribune, argues that Anderson “has aligned himself with the interests of Charlie Kirk’s” organization by allowing the event to take place on campus.
The student group describes Turning Point USA as “openly racist and antagonistic” and accuses the organization of using “a narrative of victimhood” surrounding the memorial. It also argues that students represented by the group “will be further negatively affected by allowing TPUSA to occupy our campus on that day.” Those characterizations are the student organization’s stated views; UVU maintains that allowing the privately organized event does not constitute an institutional endorsement of Turning Point USA or Kirk’s political positions.
Turning Point USA, meanwhile, has continued promoting the memorial and announced it through its student network. The event is ticketed, and pre-registration is available, though registration does not guarantee admission.
“The gathering will honor Charlie as a faith-filled husband, father, and defender of free speech with a memorial that serves as a deliberate act of remembrance and a call for students and supporters to continue his life’s work,” Turning Point USA said in announcing the memorial.
The organization added that “Americans from every corner of the country are welcome to share the moment on social media with a simple message: Charlie’s seat continues to be filled by a new generation of faith-filled believers.”
Kirk, 31, was killed Sept. 10, 2025, while participating in a campus debate event at UVU. Prosecutors have charged Tyler Robinson, 23, with aggravated murder and six additional counts in connection with the shooting. Robinson has pleaded not guilty.
Judge Tony Graf ruled Sept. 1 that prosecutors presented sufficient evidence for the aggravated murder charge to proceed to trial. The charge can carry the death penalty under Utah law. Graf scheduled another hearing for Oct. 23, when a trial date is expected to be set.
Thursday’s events will therefore place two groups with sharply different views on the same campus one year after Kirk’s killing: Turning Point USA and supporters gathering inside the UCCU Center to commemorate its founder, and student protesters outside challenging the university’s decision to permit the organization to hold the memorial there.
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