- Utah Board of Higher Education has called for the establishment of a campus safety task force in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk slaying.
- The task force will evaluate campus safety at Utah's public colleges — and make recommendation for policies and practices.
- Utah's higher education commissioner said campus attacks on free expression are attacks "on all our freedoms."
Campus security has been a sobering thread connecting several stories across Utah’s universities in recent weeks.
Most prominently, of course, was the Sept. 10 murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk during his outdoor campus gathering at Utah Valley University.
But there was also heightened security at a Turning Point USA event on Sept. 30 at Utah State University, where tensions were high after a suspicious package — later determined to be harmless — was found that day on campus.
And on Sept. 26, the University of Utah released its annual public safety reports, revealing increases in reported rapes and other forms of sexual harassment in recent years.
Recognizing a need to ensure that Utah’s public colleges and universities are safe spaces for all, the Utah Board of Higher Education voted unanimously Thursday to direct Higher Education Commissioner Geoffrey Landward and his office to establish a task force on campus safety.
The new task force will evaluate campus safety at the state’s 16 public higher education institutions — which includes eight degree-granting schools and eight technical colleges. It will then make recommendations to the UBHE for system-wide policies and practices.
“The events of last month provide us an opportunity to revisit our policies, our practices and our resources and determine if and how we can further advance safety on our campuses,” said Landward at Thursday’s board meeting.
The state’s public higher education institutions have long been committed to providing campus safety, added Landward. “So the intent is to say, ‘Here’s an opportunity to look inward again and to learn what we can do differently to further increase safety on our campuses.”
“Ensuring the safety of our campus communities is paramount,” said Jon Cox, Utah Board of Higher Education vice chair, in a board release. “This task force will provide valuable insights and actionable recommendations to strengthen our collective efforts to safeguard these vital public spaces.”
Landward said the campus safety task force “will be looking for stakeholders across the spectrum” who can provide insight — including students, college presidents, safety experts and law enforcement.
“The intent will be to bring them together and review what we currently do, review things that we’ve learned from last month, and to work with legislative leaders and others to chart a path forward.”
The task force, added Landward, will make certain Utah’s higher education system has the “resources, the practices and the policies” necessary to expand campus safety.
The task force’s actions, added the commissioner, will better ensure that “students have a place where they can feel safe to learn — and faculty have a place where they can feel safe to research and teach, and that our communities have a place where they can come and express themselves and enjoy the benefits and beauties of our campuses.”
Board member Aaron Skonnard asked Landward if the task force would be reviewing the safety and security practices of large public gatherings such as the UVU event where Charlie Kirk was killed.
“Absolutely,” he answered. “That would be one of the primary priorities of this review.”
Kirk shooting: ‘An attack on all of our freedoms’
Prior to the board’s unanimous vote in support of the safety task force, Landward referenced the Kirk slaying, saying it’s essential to “create our own path forward” as a state and country.
“This kind of violence is really intended to restrict open expression on our campuses — to restrict debate.
“An attack on free expression on our campuses is an attack on all of our freedoms.”
The only appropriate response to the assassination of Kirk at UVU, he added, “is to deepen our commitment to free expression and to find ways to protect that free expression and the right of free expression and the role of free expression on our campuses.”
UVU President Astrid Tuminez thanked the education board for its support in the aftermath of the shooting on her campus.
“It’s been a very complicated, difficult, stressful time,” she said.
“We are certainly proud of our students and their resilience. If you’ve been following what’s been going on on campus, I hope that this entire board feels proud of the students of UVU and their resilience and the articulate way they’ve expressed their feelings and their hopes.”