Colorado State University emphasizes security for Charlie Kirk vigil Thursday night
Colorado State University officials moved Thursday’s Charlie Kirk vigil to a new on-campus location to better prioritize security measures, the university said Tuesday.
The announcement comes less than a week after Kirk, the founder of conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University. Kirk was originally slated to speak at CSU Thursday night before he was killed.
The event, now hosted by Turning Point USA as a vigil for the late Kirk, will take place in Canvas Stadium from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, CSU said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. The move will allow for more robust security measures, including the university’s clear bag policy and its use of magnetometers.
University officials confirmed that there will only be one Turning Point USA event hosted on CSU’s campus Thursday. The organization was still advertising Thursday’s event as originally scheduled on it’s American Comeback Tour website Tuesday afternoon.
“(The university’s) top priority is the safety of our students and the community,” CSU Interim Police Chief Stacey Clement said in the news release. “In these instances, we are coordinating with law enforcement partners to provide secure venues for external events that will allow our students, faculty, staff and visitors to exercise their First Amendment rights in the safest environment we can provide.”
Another externally-planned event — “For free speech. Against political violence,” hosted by Political Review and its CSU affiliate chapter — was also moved to a different location, and will now take place at 4 p.m. in the CSU Lory Student Center Ballroom, according to the release. Its attendees will be subject to the same security measures as the Kirk vigil.
Following Kirk’s killing last week, the university reached out to all student groups who had planned to hold events on Thursday to consider moving them into areas with increased security, the statement said. All groups either worked with CSU to find alternative spaces or decided to cancel their event.
Turning Point USA did not respond to questions about how the event would differ from its original schedule sent via email Tuesday morning.




