By Ella Carter-Klauschie and Martin Romero, CalMatters
Two months after conservative advocate Charlie Kirk’s assassination throughout a tour cease at a Utah college, his group, Turning Level USA, will conclude its “American Comeback Tour” at UC Berkeley on Nov. 10 with heightened safety.
Turning Level USA is a nonprofit group that seeks to advertise conservative values on highschool and faculty campuses. It was co-founded by Kirk and his late mentor, Invoice Montgomery, in 2012.
The Berkeley cease can be Turning Level USA’s first occasion at a California faculty campus since Kirk was fatally shot on Sept. 10. Kirk’s killing has intensified considerations about political violence and renewed debate over how universities stability safety and free speech.
The difficulty has turn out to be private for John Paul Leon, junior and president of Berkeley’s Turning Level USA chapter, which was established in 2019. He started getting ready for Kirk’s anticipated go to months earlier than his demise.
“(We’ve) been wanting Charlie for a long time,” Leon mentioned. “I’ve been planning this since… June… It’s been a lot of work, but it’s definitely worth it.”
Leon knew Kirk personally; he had met the conservative activist a number of instances and even had breakfast with him at a Pupil Motion Summit in Tampa Bay, Florida, over the summer season, the place they talked about “Epstein, Israel and dating.”
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He described the day Kirk was killed as “possibly the craziest day of my college experience.” The Berkeley chapter had deliberate to announce Kirk’s go to to campus that night time.
“As I was spreading the word, I got sent the video of the shooting,” Leon mentioned. “My first reaction was ‘that has to be AI, no way,’… it was just completely tragic to see.”
Leon and his membership nonetheless gathered that night time, however as a substitute of the celebration he had anticipated to have hours earlier, they held a “last-minute” vigil the place conservative leaders spoke in Kirk’s honor.
Since that day, the Berkeley Turning Level USA chapter’s membership has grown considerably, based on Leon. Prior conferences hovered round 30 individuals, however over 100 attended the vigil. This semester’s smallest assembly had 60 attendees, Leon mentioned.
‘American Comeback Tour’ returns to the street
The Berkeley occasion will characteristic comic and actor Rob Schneider and Christian apologist speaker Frank Turek at Zellerbach Corridor. Each Turek and Schneider had been buddies of the late conservative activist, with Turek being a longtime mentor to Kirk and current when he was assassinated.
Dan Mogulof, a UC Berkeley spokesperson, mentioned, as of Oct. 14, the Berkeley chapter anticipated 300 attendees, although the corridor has a capability of almost 2,000. The chapter has not responded to requests for the variety of individuals registered for the occasion.
Police stand throughout a Turning Level USA occasion that includes founder Charlie Kirk at UC San Diego on Might 5, 2025. Picture by Michael Ho Wai Lee, SOPA Photographs by way of Reuters
In a letter despatched to all UC chancellors on Sept. 23, UC President James B. Milliken addressed Kirk’s assassination and directed all campuses to “take immediate steps to review existing procedures for hosting events.” He additional suggested that every one campuses take into account indoor venue places, bag checks and ticket scanning, amongst different precautionary measures, to cut back security dangers for occasion audio system and attendees.
“The murder of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University was a reminder that we must always remain vigilant,” Milliken mentioned within the letter. “Universities are places where civil discussion and debate can and should occur, without the fear or threat of harm.”
Mogulof declined to supply any particulars on how UC Berkeley plans to safe the Nov. 10 occasion. Mogulof mentioned the college can be following protocols set by the main occasions coverage, which dictates that the College of California Police Division should make safety suggestions on a case-by-case foundation.
Leon, who helped coordinate Berkeley’s occasion, mentioned luggage is not going to be allowed into the occasion, there can be an inventory of prohibited gadgets and safety can be stationed each inside and outdoors. He declined to supply additional particulars, citing safety considerations. He additionally wouldn’t say whether or not the chapter is pitching in for any prices for extra safety.
In response to the main occasions coverage, occasion organizers are required to reimburse the prices of occasion safety supplied by UC Berkeley’s campus police division.
Berkeley regulation professor Jonathan Simon suggested that the college ought to communicate with potential counter-protestors previous to the occasion to be ready.
“You need to be in dialogue well before the protests happen with the groups that are likely to be involved in it,” Simon mentioned. “They’ve got to take responsibility for how they’re going to be organized and the university can support, can encourage, can make the police available to them to do advanced planning if they’re going to be doing a march or things of that nature.”
Initially, the Turning Level USA go to was supposed to incorporate two occasions, one within the morning the place Kirk would debate college students exterior in his typical “Prove Me Wrong” format and a night program with Turek and Schneider. The controversy was canceled after Kirk’s demise and this system was moved indoors for safety causes, Leon mentioned.
Campus college students and school have blended reactions
UC Berkeley is a stronghold for progressive scholar activism and was the house of the Free Speech Motion within the Sixties. Kirk himself described his campus visits as open boards for debate. Leon credited him as being an advocate for “free expression and exchange of dialogue.”
“(Kirk) said that we need to continue the conversations, because when we stop talking, that’s when violence happens,” Leon mentioned. “I’m going to make sure I’m always a person who’s willing to have a conversation, so that way we would never have the need for violence.”
On a latest day on UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza, a central website for sit-ins and rallies on campus, college students famous an increase in conservative voices since Kirk’s demise, totally on social media, the place friends have been extra outspoken in posting their views.
Sather Gate on the campus of The College of California, Berkeley in Berkeley on March 25, 2022. Picture by Martin do Nascimento, CalMatters
Miguel Muñiz, president of the Berkeley School Republicans, mentioned his membership members have been extra prepared to “be public with what they think.”
“I’ve seen a lot of people that are moving to the right because they’re going back and they’re actually watching this stuff that Charlie did,” Muñiz mentioned. “I originally was very pessimistic, but now, looking at the movement that has started, it’s made me really look forward to what might be able to rise from the ashes.”
Sophomore Jackie Campion mentioned she thinks Turning Level USA is an “unhealthy” ideology for younger individuals, however due to the college’s dedication to free speech, the group has a proper to say what they need on campus. She added that she believes open communication is the one approach to change minds.
Different critics deride Kirk’s hardline, controversial stances on social points. Kirk was usually overtly racist and misogynistic, additionally talking out in opposition to the LGBTQ+ group and migrants. He was ceaselessly quoted as worrying about “the great replacement theory” and saying ladies ought to undergo their husbands, based on an article from The Guardian.
“You heard that he was, like, this wonderful, like, Johnny Appleseed character that was coming to campuses and talking to students who had apparently never been talked to by people about difficult issues,” regulation professor Simon mentioned. “If you actually read about the kind of things he said, he was hardly somebody who sort of tried to build a big tent of any kind. He was extremely rejecting of whole groups of people.”
On the College of Minnesota, which hosted the primary occasion after Kirk’s assassination, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported that a number of professors moved lessons on-line. Some cited Turning Level USA’s “professor watchlist,” which seeks to “expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda,” based on the group’s web site.
A number of college students mentioned that whereas they aren’t pleased concerning the Turning Level USA occasion, they acknowledge Berkeley’s dedication to free speech, which permits audio system like Turek and Schneider to come back to campus.
Leela Mehta-Harwitz, coalitions chair for UC Berkeley’s chapter of Younger Democratic Socialists of America, mentioned the group has no plans to protest, attend or in any other case have interaction with the Turning Level USA occasion. They made a distinction between the nationwide group and the campus chapter, saying that the previous is extraordinarily dangerous and “inflammatory,” and the latter is one they disagree with however see as “colleagues” on campus.
“We don’t feel like it’s worth our energy,” Mehta-Harwitz mentioned. “Turning Point USA is famous for clip farming. They’re well-known for getting inflammatory clips that deliberately paint left-wing activists in a bad light. We’re not interested in being fodder for their social media cycle and being misrepresented.”
UC Berkeley political science professor Susan Hyde emphasised that every one speech, even hate speech, is technically a protected proper below the First Modification. She added that a lot of the college students she’s had in school are open to dialogue of different viewpoints on campus.
“We strive to be a campus where people can listen to ideas that they disagree with, they can listen to ideas that they even find offensive, and still understand that this is part of our constitutionally protected rights,” mentioned Hyde. “We can have respectful engagement with lots of different ideas on this campus. I think that’s part of our mission, and part of what the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley has meant.”
