How UC Berkeley is preparing for Turning Point’s final tour stop after Charlie Kirk’s death

By Ella Carter-Klauschie and Martin Romero CalMatters Two months after conservative advocate Charlie Kirk s assassination during a tour stop at a Utah university his organization Turning Point USA will conclude its American Comeback Tour at UC Berkeley on Nov with heightened safety Turning Point USA is a nonprofit organization that seeks to promote conservative values on high school and college campuses It was co-founded by Kirk and his late mentor Bill Montgomery in Related Articles Berkeley a Look Back Military inspects site in for manageable airport They mentioned it Making peace with housing on Berkeley s People s Park CSU faculty sue over disclosure of personal information to Trump administration Progress on housing at Berkeley s People s Park elicits mixed feelings Want to get creeped out for Halloween Take this ghost tour of UC Berkeley The Berkeley stop will be Turning Point USA s first event at a California college campus since Kirk was fatally shot on Sept Kirk s killing has intensified concerns about political violence and renewed debate over how universities balance prevention and free speech The issue has become personal for John Paul Leon junior and president of Berkeley s Turning Point USA chapter which was established in He began preparing for Kirk s anticipated visit months before his death 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 several times and even had breakfast with him at a Participant Action Summit in Tampa Bay Florida over the summer where they talked about Epstein Israel and dating RELATED University of California students professors and staff sue the Trump administration He described the day Kirk was killed as possibly the craziest day of my college experience The Berkeley chapter had planned to announce Kirk s visit to campus that night As I was spreading the word I got sent the video of the shooting Leon announced My first reaction was that has to be AI no way it was just entirely tragic to see Leon and his club still gathered that night but instead of the celebration he had expected to have hours earlier they held a last-minute vigil where conservative leaders spoke in Kirk s honor Since that day the Berkeley Turning Point USA chapter s membership has grown significantly according to Leon Prior meetings hovered around people but over attended the vigil This semester s smallest meeting had attendees Leon stated American Comeback Tour returns to the road After a brief pause the tour has since made nine stops at college campuses across the country featuring Vice President JD Vance former Fox News talk show host Tucker Carlson Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and other prominent conservatives The Berkeley event will feature comedian and actor Rob Schneider and Christian apologist speaker Frank Turek at Zellerbach Hall Both Turek and Schneider were friends of the late conservative activist with Turek being a longtime mentor to Kirk and present when he was assassinated Dan Mogulof a UC Berkeley spokesperson revealed as of Oct the Berkeley chapter expected attendees though the hall has a limit of nearly The chapter has not responded to requests for the number of people registered for the event Police stand during a Turning Point USA event featuring founder Charlie Kirk at UC San Diego on May Photo by Michael Ho Wai Lee SOPA Images via Reuters Other campus tour stops have had enhanced protection measures At Virginia Tech on Sept attendees were required to show identification were not allowed to bring bags and had to pass through metal detectors to access the event The University of Oklahoma Turning Point USA president advised the scholar newspaper OU Daily that their chapter paid for increased campus police presence at its Oct event The tour has so far occurred without any incidents and with a record turnout In a letter sent to all UC chancellors on Sept UC President James B Milliken addressed Kirk s assassination and directed all campuses to take immediate measures to review existing procedures for hosting events He further advised that all campuses consider indoor venue locations bag checks and ticket scanning among other precautionary measures to reduce safety risks for event speakers and attendees The murder of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University was a reminder that we must inevitably remain vigilant Milliken mentioned in the letter Universities are places where civil discussion and debate can and should occur without the fear or threat of harm Mogulof declined to provide any details on how UC Berkeley plans to secure the Nov event Mogulof reported the university will be following protocols set by the major events procedures which dictates that the University of California Police Department must make protection recommendations on a case-by-case basis Leon who helped coordinate Berkeley s event commented bags will not be allowed into the event there will be a list of prohibited items and assurance will be stationed both inside and outside He declined to provide further details citing prevention concerns He also would not say whether the chapter is pitching in for any costs for additional safety According to the major events approach event organizers are required to reimburse the costs of event protection provided by UC Berkeley s campus police department In an email comment Capt Sabrina Reich commented that the campus police department could not share specific measure details but announced that it conducts safety assessments for major events using best practices and in coordination with campus partners She added that UCPD will take whatever measures are deemed necessary to have a safe and flourishing event Berkeley law professor Jonathan Simon advised that the university should speak with expected counter-protestors prior to the event to be prepared You need to be in dialogue well before the protests happen with the groups that are likely to be involved in it Simon declared They ve got to take responsibility for how they re going to be organized and the university can patronage 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 Point USA visit was supposed to include two events one in the morning where Kirk would debate students outside in his typical Prove Me Wrong format and an evening activity with Turek and Schneider The debate was canceled after Kirk s death and the project was moved indoors for precaution reasons Leon declared Campus students and faculty have mixed reactions UC Berkeley is a stronghold for progressive novice activism and was the home of the Free Speech Movement in the s Kirk himself described his campus visits as open forums for debate Leon credited him as being an advocate for free expression and exchange of dialogue Kirk revealed that we need to continue the conversations because when we stop talking that s when violence happens Leon noted I m going to make sure I m consistently a person who s willing to have a conversation so that way we would never have the need for violence On a up-to-date day on UC Berkeley s Sproul Plaza a central site for sit-ins and rallies on campus students noted a rise in conservative voices since Kirk s death primarily on social media where peers have been more outspoken in posting their views Sather Gate on the campus of The University of California Berkeley in Berkeley on March Photo by Martin do Nascimento CalMatters Miguel Mu iz president of the Berkeley College Republicans revealed his club members have been more willing to be society 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 really watching this stuff that Charlie did Mu iz revealed 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 explained she thinks Turning Point USA is an unhealthy ideology for young people but because of the university s commitment to free speech the group has a right to say what they want on campus She added that she believes open communication is the only way to change minds Other critics deride Kirk s hardline controversial stances on social issues Kirk was often overtly racist and misogynistic also speaking out against the LGBTQ area and refugees He was frequently quoted as being concerned about the great replacement theory and saying women should submit to their husbands according to 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 complex issues law professor Simon reported If you in fact read about the kind of things he mentioned 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 At the University of Minnesota which hosted the first event after Kirk s assassination the Minnesota Star Tribune revealed that several professors moved classes online A few cited Turning Point USA s professor watchlist which seeks to expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda according to the group s website Several students stated that while they aren t happy about the Turning Point USA event they recognize Berkeley s commitment to free speech which allows speakers like Turek and Schneider to come to campus Leela Mehta-Harwitz coalitions chair for UC Berkeley s chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America noted the organization has no plans to protest attend or otherwise engage with the Turning Point USA event They made a distinction between the national organization and the campus chapter saying that the former is extremely harmful and inflammatory and the latter is one they disagree with but see as colleagues on campus We don t feel like it s worth our force Mehta-Harwitz revealed 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 emphasized that all speech even hate speech is technically a protected right under the First Amendment She added that preponderance of the students she s had in class are open to discussion of alternative 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 disclosed 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