BLOOMINGTON — Students at Indiana University Bloomington are reacting to the death of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk and grappling with what they see as a growing tide of political violence in America.
Kirk, 31, was shot and killed on Wednesday in Utah during a speaking engagement on a college campus.
This was the first stop on a tour that had a scheduled appearence in Bloomington next month.
“It really speaks to what’s happening in society right now,” Junior Kala Crumbaugh said Thursday. “Someone just literally died because of their beliefs — as if their beliefs were right or wrong.”
Many on campus expressed frustration at what they described as an entrenched culture of division.
“As a society, we need to come together and work together to fix some of these issues instead of just sitting here and arguing about them,” Crumbaugh added.
IU Bloomington Professor Emeritus of Political Science Marjorie Hershey spoke about what she thinks is fueling hostility.
“When we have a group of leaders dehumanizing other people — talking about them as scum, as vermin, as the enemy — we encourage those whose minds are vulnerable to act on that hostility,” Hershey said.
Both students and faculty at IU said they hope Kirk’s death serves as a wake-up call for Americans to put aside partisan differences.
“There are ways to work together no matter what you believe,” Crumbaugh said. “If we don’t do that, there’s no way we’re going to get anything done.”
