TEMPE, Ariz. — Students at Arizona State University, the birthplace of Turning Point USA, honored the late Charlie Kirk in a memorial ceremony on Monday evening.
Kirk was fatally shot on Sept. 10 at Utah Valley University. Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old accused of killing Kirk, made his first court appearance on Tuesday.
People across the world are grieving, holding vigils in cities and countries Kirk had never even visited.
The service at Desert Financial Arena, which attracted about 9,000 people, became “the largest student organized vigil in the country,” Troy Holderby, the president of ASU College Republicans, told the Deseret News the next morning. He credited Turning Point USA for logistical help.
Dan Beazley, of Northville, Mich., stood outside the stadium with his 10-foot cross ahead of the vigil, offering attendees prayers, as he had the day before, outside the TPUSA headquarters. He leaned on the cross, guarding his sunburnt face.
Scenes from vigil at the ASU
Inside, after the national anthem and prayers led by a pastor, a group of students brought candles and placed them under Kirk’s photograph on stage. Holderby offered his remarks onstage Monday evening.
“If you are mad about Charlie Kirk’s assassination, good. Share the Gospel of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” said Holderby said on stage.
“We can forgive his shooter, which is a difficult thing to do. We can forgive the people who celebrate his death, which is equally difficult, but forevermore, we must work with this week in mind. Work,” Holderby concluded before offering a prayer.
The students in the sea of ‘Make America Great Again’ hats that bore the Turning Point logo on the side cheered, cried and prayed alongside more than a dozen speakers, including many TPUSA employees. The most notable of them was Tyler Bowyer, the chief operating officer of TPUSA Action.
“If this crazy, left-wing radicalization is happening in Utah, it’s happening everywhere,” said Bowyer. “This isn’t a both sides problem. This is very clearly a one-sided problem.”
He spoke about TPUSA’s early days, when Kirk and Bowyer met and Bowyer agreed to take “a subminimum minimum wage job” at TPUSA. Bowyer served as the chairman of the Maricopa County Republican Committee at the time.
They would sit at a table on the ASU campus and face off against the harassers passing by. He recalled the university mascot, Sparky, posing with a TPUSA sign, “Big Government Sucks More Than Wildcats,” in 2018, while pointing to another version of the signage placed between two photos of Kirk on stage.
The picture of Sparky went viral. University President Michael Crow called TPUSA to get the photo taken down.
“We said no,” Bowyer said, earning loud cheers.
TPUSA wants students to turn action into activism.
He reminisced about hosting the first ever Trump rally a few blocks away from the arena, campaigning for President Donald Trump, hosting conversations about faith and conferences for conservatives and helping Trump win the swing state of Arizona by 5.5% last year.
“I would trade in everything, everything that we spent all those years building at Turning Point just to have Charlie back,” Bowyer confessed.
“But you know what? Charlie Kirk wouldn’t do that,” Bowyer said, again urging students to convert their pain into activism.
Carson Carpenter, a former president of the College Republicans, attended the vigil to pay his respects.
“It was refreshing to see the revitalized faith in action, wearing your heart on your sleeve and coming together peacefully,” he added.
In a post on X, Bowyer said that since Kirk’s passing, TPUSA and TP Action received about 27,000 leads from college students interested in joining or starting a chapter and a similar number from high schoolers.
The organizations also sold 15,000 tickets for the upcoming AmericaFest in Phoenix and half a million items of merchandise.
Sierra Place, a sign language teacher at a high school in the valley and a recent graduate of ASU, said she believes “It’s a great revival.”
She wasn’t sure what to expect from the evening but felt inspired and looked forward to attending church a lot more.
“A lot of churches forget about the deaf community,” she said. “I’m hoping to support Turning Point in that area.”
“We know that Jesus is king,” said Place, “and if we all can come together to talk about that, then there’s nothing we can’t do.”
A mix-up with ASU
Last Friday, ASU’s Turning Point Chapter and College Republicans group alleged the university refused to work with students to host the memorial service.
The students requested a “place on campus to hold a peaceful prayer service,” according to the statement from Holderby, the president of ASU College Republicans.
“Unfortunately, senior administration at ASU has been thus far totally unworkable,” Holderby said, accusing the university of forcing students to use a venue 15 times larger than requested and saddling the volunteer-led student club with the bill for security.
Republican state Sen. Jake Hoffman accused ASU of sabotaging the event and other conservatives echoed these concerns. Hoffman’s remarks came at a time when political tensions were running high. News headlines showed people losing their employment or educational placements over inappropriate comments related to Kirk’s death.
But by Saturday, the student group announced it reached the desired terms with the university. The venue was changed from the outdoor Hayden Lawn to the multipurpose arena, which holds up to 15,000 people.
According to one report, the misunderstanding was resolved after the university clarified that the student groups will not incur any administrative or security expenses.
Charlie Kirk’s funeral in Phoenix
Other speakers included Philosophy professor Dr. Owen Anderson, who serves as a faculty adviser for TPUSA at ASU, Jack Posobiec, conservative internet personality, and Anthony Watson, former Olympian and Turning Point contributor.
Last week, Vice President JD Vance traveled from Utah to Arizona to bring Kirk’s remains home. He and his wife Usha Vance escorted the casket along with Kirk’s wife Erika Kirk.
Kirk’s funeral will be held at State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Ariz., on Sunday. The stadium, home to NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, is one of the largest venues in the state.
President Donald Trump is expected to attend as are Vance and other high-level federal officials.
“We lost a great person,” Trump said. “I’ll be going on early Sunday morning, going to Arizona, taking some people with us on Air Force One.”