Orem, Utah – It took twenty years Utah Valley University From a small community college to the largest school in the state, boasting of having one of the safest campuses in the country.
Right-wing activists assassinate the image only takes a few seconds Charlie Kirk.
The sprawling campus of nearly 50,000 students under Wasatch Mountains will forever be tied to the September 10 event when a bullet shot down the founder of the American Turn Point when he spoke to a large group of people in an outdoor amphitheater in the middle of the campus.
this University – So far, places outside Utah are largely unknown – fixed in unnecessary ethnic spotlight when searching Kirk’s Killer. Students and faculty members return to class this week, still full of sadness, fear and anxiety, facing a tough question: how they cope UVU’s Suddenly notorious?
“This puts the university on the map and gives more attention than ever,” said Timothy Calkins, a professor brand expert at Northwestern University. “They certainly don’t want that. But they have to find some way to come back.”
University leaders say they are now focused on the safety of students and their communities, but they have begun to think about how to reshape the broken identity of the school.
Kyle Reyes, one Utah Valley University The vice president said he hopes the school can be a model for healing and embracing difficult conversations.
“We know that the eyes are in us, and we will not shy away from proving our resilience together,” Reyes said.
For years, schools have had only minimal violence, according to data collected by the U.S. Department of Education. UVU’s The latest report involving Orem’s main campus in 2021-2023 shows that police investigations may have received reports of four aggravated assault charges, 13 rape charges, an obvious arson and no murder or homicide. Kirk’s University spokesman Ellen Treanor said the killing was the first murder on campus that administrators realized.
University officials cite the data in support of the claim that “it is one of the safest universities in the country.”
UVU It also touts its strong connection with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, home to the largest young Mormon education institute in the world. Its mascot is Wolverine. “Like Wolverine, UVU The students are determined, ambitious and fearless. ” said the university’s website.
18-year-old student Marjorie Holt is studying basic education UVUlate Kirk rally and arrive a few minutes before he is shot. She ran with the others, hiding in nearby buildings.
From then on, Holt came home to spend a night in Salt Lake City with his family. She said she felt that college failed Kirk and his family did not provide better security. She was worried about attending classes at a building near the crime scene.
but Kirk’s Holt believes that shooting deepens the country’s political divide and common trauma brings UVU near.
“We are all, you know, love him or hate him,” she said. Kirk. “We are still coming together no matter how we believe it, and I feel like it brings our school closer than ever.”
When students returned Wednesday, they reported that classes were quieter than usual. “It feels like the teaching has more knowledge of all beliefs, and ultimately it’s about sharing those beliefs,” Matthew Caldwell, 24, said in a history class.
Student group principal Kyle Cullimore urged his classmates to stop labeling each other and see each other as humans during Friday’s vigil UVU It can be “a place where differences cannot eliminate our dignity.”
Other schools that became synonymous with shootings provided different templates to address the consequences.
The 1999 Columbine High School massacre strengthened safety and training for shooters in American schools. Kirk Killed, and when two students were injured, the shooter took his life after being tested in a shooting at Evergreen High School in Colorado. This is the same school district as Columbine, and officials praised years of preparation and training to avoid more casualties.
Student victims and families have put sadness in activist gun control after the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech University.
In Uvalde, Texas, officials voted to demolish Rob Elementary School after killing 19 students and two teachers in a mass shooting.
At Kent State University, National Guard soldiers killed four students in a Vietnam War protest in 1970 and were injured in the Vietnam War protest, Johanna Solomon said the school has been inclined to places where freely expresses their thoughts since then.
There was a struggle along the way. Starting in 1986, Ohio schools began changing track and field uniforms, letters and signage to highlight “Kent” and put “State” under small letters in an attempt to distance themselves from the shooting. The change was revoked in 2000, and the study was established in response to the 1970 shooting, said Karen Cunningham, a professor at the School of Peace and Conflict at Kent State University.
“I’m proud of their decision to be a university because it didn’t escape or forget what happened,” Solomon said. “The leaders have a very obvious choice after something like this, one is to tend to split and the other is to humanize people and bring people together.”
As UVU Last week, students ventured back and Republican Utah Gov. Spencer Cox met with a small group of people on campus. He admitted: “It’s rough for all of us.” The world only knows one thing UVU Now, he said- He hopes everyone knows the rest of the story.
“This place is incredible, and it’s incredible thanks to the students, incredible teachers here,” Cox said. “The world is in desperate need of change, but they won’t find it from politicians. It has to come from you.”
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Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
