Utah’s commissioner of higher education has one request for the state’s colleges following the fatal shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk: Make your commitment to safeguarding free speech on campus even stronger.
Geoff Landward said Thursday that’s “the only appropriate response.”
“This kind of violence is intended to restrict open expression,” he said during a somber message. He asked schools not to let it.
The commissioner spoke during the Utah Board of Higher Education’s first public meeting since the Sept. 10 killing on Utah Valley University’s campus. Like other leaders, Landward cast the attack on Kirk as “senseless violence.”
A single shot was fired from a rooftop, striking Kirk while he was speaking in an open courtyard during one of his routine college visits. The suspected shooter, Tyler James Robinson, turned himself in and has since been charged with seven counts, including murder.
At Landward’s recommendation, the board also voted Thursday to create a task force that will evaluate campus safety across the state’s eight public colleges and universities. That group will include campus security professionals and experts in law enforcement.
“We must ensure that our colleges provide spaces where our students can learn, where our faculty can teach and research, and where communities can gather to exchange ideas and enjoy the beauty of our campuses safely,” Landward said.
The task force, once formed, will assess current security measures and recommend systemwide policies and practices for what schools can be doing better. It will also look at whether institutions have enough financial resources to cover their policing needs.
UVU’s police force had eight officers assigned to Kirk’s event, which saw more than 3,000 attendees. The relatively small staffing has drawn scrutiny since the shooting, and the school has said it will hire an independent company to review how it handled the event.
A timeline has not been provided for either the system’s task force or UVU’s review.
“This is going to be a big, big issue for a long time moving forward,” said higher education board member Jon Cox.
UVU President Astrid Tuminez spoke to the board Thursday, too, about how difficult the fallout has been.
“There is no way to describe what this experience is like,” she said. “Everybody was traumatized by this.”
The school continues to provide extra counseling services, Tuminez added. It also is shifting its focus back to initiatives that were already underway before the shooting, including helping students better communicate ideas, debate differences and navigate conflict.
UVU had previously dubbed that “Our Better Selves for a Better America.”
Tuminez said the effort includes skill-building workshops, academic classes and certificates on communication and resolution. The university will also host conferences and speakers centered around ethics, healing, peace and diversity.
“These are not just classroom skills,” the president stressed.
Landward said that aligns with his vision for the state’s campuses to be places where expression and speech are championed — and serve as a model for the nation about healthy dialogue.
He led a discussion, along with Utah State University lecturer Clair Canfield, about reframing conflict as something that’s not inherently negative, but a way to engage with different viewpoints and develop understanding and empathy.
Similar to UVU, USU also offers courses and certificates on how to better engage when you disagree.
The commissioner has been looking back on the free expression resolutions the Utah higher education board passed in 2023 and 2024 and said those feel even more important now. Those included policies enshrining the rights of all students, staff, faculty and community members to have space on campus to speak their minds. And they also ensured all perspectives would be protected.