Straws in the Wind - Part 320

From Inside Higher Ed: Susan McMahon, an educator, author and podcaster, will no longer be Utah Valley University’s commencement speaker, following backlash over her social media posts about Charlie Kirk’s death... After Kirk was fatally shot while speaking on UVU’s campus last year, McMahon made a post that has since been deleted listing quotes from Kirk, with the caption, “These aren’t sound bites taken out of context. Millions of people feel they were harmed, and the murder that was horrific and should never have happened does not magically erase what was said or done.”

When UVU announced last week that McMahon would be this year’s commencement speaker, university president Astrid Tuminez called her “a force of nature and a force for good...” But backlash came swiftly. The president of UVU’s Turning Point USA chapter criticized the decision to host McMahon as “tone-deaf and disrespectful to those still affected” by Kirk’s assassination... The university announced in a press release Thursday that McMahon would no longer speak at graduation due to safety concerns...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/04/17/commencement-speaker-who-criticized-charlie-kirk-out-uvu.

Bugged - Part 3

From Inside Higher Ed: The Department of Education is reviewing potential violations of the Clery Act at the University of California, Berkeley following violence at a campus protest. Fights broke out and four people were arrested at a Nov. 10 protest against an event for Turning Point USA, the conservative student group founded by Charlie Kirk, Cal Matters reported. The organization has received newfound attention after Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University in September, exactly two months before the event at UC Berkeley. 

...ED also accused the university of having “a history of violating the Clery Act” in a news release announcing the investigation, citing a $2.4 million fine and settlement agreement in 2020 for UC Berkeley’s failure to properly classify 1,125 crimes on campus and insufficient record keeping... UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof told Inside Higher Ed by email that the university “has an unwavering commitment to abide by the laws, rules and policies that are applicable to the university” and “will continue to cooperate with governmental inquires and investigations.” ...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/11/26/ed-investigates-berkeley-over-protest-violence.

Previous blog posts: https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/bugged-part-2.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/bugged.html; https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/coming-soon-to-berkeley.html.

Bugged

Blog readers will recall our posting about an upcoming Turning Point program scheduled for November 10 (last Monday) at UC-Berkeley.* It came on schedule and apparently there were confrontations. From the Daily Cal:

UCPD arrested four students early Monday morning for felony vandalism, according to information from campus administrators. The individuals were arrested while attempting to hang an approximately five-foot-tall cardboard bug off Sather Gate in protest of Turning Point USA’s, or TPUSA, upcoming event on campus. The students, three of whom appear to be undergraduates, were booked in Santa Rita County Jail, where they remain awaiting bail of $20,000 each for three individuals and $10,000 for the other...

The demonstrators had posted posters with racist, misogynistic, and otherwise inflammatory quotes from TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk on the gate, who was killed on a college campus exactly two months ago...

As demonstrators attempted to string up the installation, it seems likely that the installation violated time, place and manner, or TPM, regulations, which prohibit individuals from physically obstructing or attaching anything to Sather Gate. Violating TPM violations are not, in themselves, criminal offenses; however, the associated actions may be considered a crime, according to campus policy...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/4-uc-berkeley-students-arrested-on-felony-vandalism-charges-for-anti-tpusa-art-installation/article_c65ad4c0-2c69-4d6f-b630-ba111573fd5a.html.

As to the event itself; from the Daily Cal: Hundreds of protesters and police officers armed in riot gear clashed in a series of tense confrontations and arrests on UC Berkeley’s campus during Turning Point USA, or TPUSA’s, final stop of its national tour Monday night. Five individuals were arrested in relation to various altercations with police and protesters, in addition to four students who were arrested early Monday morning for an anti-TPUSA art installation on Sproul Plaza. The students, who attempted to hang a large cardboard bug from Sather Gate, were arrested on charges of felony vandalism. The event, which featured conservative activists comedian Rob Schneider and author Frank Turek, comes exactly two months after founder and president Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a TPUSA event at Utah Valley University. 

Several student and community groups — including Jewish Voice for Peace, Students Organizing for Liberation and Cal Young Democratic Socialists of America and others — announced their intent to protest TPUSA’s presence on campus prior to the event. Security measures, such as barricades surrounding Lower Sproul Plaza in front of Zellerbach Hall, were installed by the morning of the event...

Multiple arrests were made before the event began following violent altercations. One TPUSA supporter sustained visible injuries to the face after a fight broke out between them and a protester. The last arrest was made around 8:30 p.m...

Full story at https://www.dailycal.org/news/campus/protesters-armed-police-swarm-uc-berkeley-at-turbulent-turning-point-usa-event/article_fbff1cf4-206d-4a74-901e-61b7fc3a5a49.html.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/11/coming-soon-to-berkeley.html.