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A Texas State University student’s enrollment ended after a video was posted showing him mocking conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death, the latest in a series of removals across Texas campuses prompted by comments made about the killing.
The video, posted Tuesday morning on X, shows the student in a crowd slapping his neck several times, calling himself Kirk and at one point climbing the base of a statue and stating “my name is Charlie Kirk” before falling over. Kirk died after being shot in the neck on Sept. 10 during an event he was hosting at Utah Valley University.
The video sparked responses condemning the student’s mocking of Kirk, including from Gov. Greg Abbott, who reshared the video and demanded Texas State University take action against the student.
“Expel this student immediately,” Abbott said in a social media post on X. “Mocking assassination must have consequences.”
Six hours after Abbott’s request, Texas State University announced the person in the video had been identified and “was no longer a student” at the university, according to a statement from Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse. It was not immediately clear whether the student was expelled or voluntarily withdrew. In Damphousse’s statement, he called the video “disturbing” and condemned the student’s behavior.
“I will not tolerate behavior that mocks, trivializes, or promotes violence on our campuses,” Damphousse said.
The name of the student was not released by Damphousse in his statement, and said that federal law prevents the school from commenting on individual student conduct matters. Texas State University spokespeople did not immediately respond to questions about what policies may have been broken or what specific behavior from the student had triggered officials to act.
The end of the student’s enrollment is a convergence between two recent phenomena gripping Texas education: widespread conservative backlash against those who mock or criticize Kirk in the days since his killing, and viral videos of those in higher education leading to their removal from campus. Faculty and advocacy groups have expressed repeated concern that the wave of removals and firings for statements and actions by students and faculty amount to First Amendment violations and a clampdown on free speech.
“People need to be able to express themselves, even in ways that offend others, because a lot of politics is going to be offensive,” Dominic Coletti, the student press program officer for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, said Wednesday. “A lot of politics is going to be controversial, and without allowing people to engage in that kind of controversial speech, without allowing people to engage in that kind of offensive speech, you risk silencing debate.”
A student at Texas Tech University was arrested for misdemeanor assault on Sept. 12 after a video of her demeaning Kirk and arguing with another student was shared on social media, including by Abbott.
And in K-12 schools, at least two teachers in Texas have been fired for online comments they made about Kirk and two have resigned. The Texas Education Agency said it has received more than 280 complaints it will investigate related to comments made about Kirk. Texas American Federation of Teachers president Zeph Capo condemned the investigations as a politically motivated “witch hunt.”
Comments made by those in higher education to matters unrelated to Kirk’s death have also prompted online criticism and calls for removals. On Sept. 10, Texas State University fired Professor Thomas Alter for comments he made during an online social conference that was unknowingly recorded and posted on social media.
And at Texas A&M University on Sept. 9, Professor Melissa McCoul was fired and the College of Arts and Sciences dean and a department head were removed from their positions. The firing and removals came after a video of a student confronting McCoul in her children’s literature course over gender identity content was posted online.
Coletti said the move to censor speech on and off campus, especially in the two cases at Texas State University, highlight Texas’ unique grappling with First Amendment-protected speech. Those breakdowns are not necessarily based on partisan divide, but instead dictated by who is in power.
“This is not happening in a vacuum, and [we] are seeing in Texas a continued assault on the notion that a university is a place for the unhindered pursuit of truth,” Coletti said. “Instead, we are seeing universities become a place that only speech those in power approve of is acceptable.”
The shockwave of backlash on multiple fronts across the state, led and at times spurred by conservative lawmakers, comes as Texas universities are turning to politicians more frequently to take on administrative roles at state institutions. Three current and former state Republican lawmakers have been selected as chancellors of some of Texas’ largest university systems this year.
Republican lawmakers have also led efforts to restrict when and how students can protest on campus, claiming the new guidelines will help to avoid unsafe behavior seen at pro-Palestinian protests last year. Senate Bill 2972 restricts sound amplifying devices to be used in a disruptive manner and prohibits protests between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m.
The restrictions in SB 2972 come five years after the Texas Legislature passed a bill in 2019 that aimed to bolster free speech protections on campus. Senate Bill 18 was also authored and favored by Republicans, which created sanctions for students who interfere with others’ free speech and protects student organizations’ ability to invite speakers on campus.
Amid the public outcry, Damphousse pushed back on claims that the student’s actions in the video reflects on the university or its community as a whole in an email sent to Texas State University students. He also asked for “measured response and dialogue” amid the anxiety on campus.
“Just as the behavior in the video was reprehensible, attempts to spread the blame onto innocent students are also unacceptable,” Damphousse said. “The actions of one person do not reflect our entire community or the individuals in it.”
Disclosure: Texas A&M University and Texas Tech University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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