On the eve of the anniversary of 9/11, one of the most horrific tragedies in our nation’s history, evil showed its ugly face yet again. An assassin’s bullet needlessly took the life of husband, father, and political activist Charlie Kirk. His supposed offense? Debating. This senseless act of murder was committed on the grounds of an institution that should be a beacon of free thought and expression: a college campus.
I want to say this is unexpected or that political violence on campus is unlikely, but I’ve been defending the rights of students and faculty at public universities for too long to say that this is a total surprise. As director of Alliance Defending Freedom’s Center for Academic Freedom, I’ve seen everything from mobs on campuses blocking and verbally abusing a pro-life speaker to our own CEO being shouted out of a bipartisan presentation at Yale Law School. The unspeakable horror we witnessed on Sept. 10 was a predictable destination of the trajectory of escalating violence on our college campuses.
