Tennessee passes campus protest crackdown bill named after Charlie Kirk

While supporters of Charlie Kirk describe the late activist as a free speech champion, a newly passed Tennessee bill named in his honor is raising questions about how far the state can go in restricting student protest.

The so-called “Charlie Kirk Act,” passed by the Tennessee Legislature on Wednesday, would allow colleges to suspend or expel students who cause disruptive protests.

It requires all state colleges and universities, and bars institutions from shielding students from controversial, unpopular, or offensive ideas solely because they are unpopular. It also prevents uninviting a guest already booked to speak at a university because they were unpopular, a provision supporters say mirrors policies associated with the University of Chicago.

If signed into law, the measure would put up an obstacle for students who, across the country, have protested the creation of platforms for anti-LGBTQ+ speakers. Universities in the past have stopped clubs from inviting speakers critics describe as hateful or dangerous, particularly when events were expected to cause disruption.

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Bill sponsors said the legislation will uphold free speech and debate on campus. “This bill before us now strengthens that free speech policy so that we can ensure that public debate at our public colleges and universities is civil and robust,” Tennessee state Rep. Gina Bulso told Nashville ABC affiliate WKRN.

But Democrats in the Legislature questioned how the bill would be enforced. It imposes punishments on students who protest or walk out of classes over speakers while protecting the right of controversial figures to come to campus.

The bill is named for Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, who was assassinated during a campus event at Utah Valley University in September. Authorities said a 22-year-old man was charged in the killing, which officials described as politically motivated.

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Kirk has been widely criticized by LGBTQ+ advocates for his rhetoric on transgender rights and other issues, and some lawmakers objected to naming legislation after him. Tennessee state Rep. Justin Jones said it was offensive to name a bill for Kirk, citing what he described as the activist’s record on race and LGBTQ+ issues.

“It’s ironic that this body is talking about free speech when we had professors in Tennessee schools expelled and suspended when they did not mourn the death of Charlie Kirk — when they said that his statements were problematic and that the way he died did not redeem the way he lived,” the Democrat said.