BOCA RATON — The rain forced them inside at first. Nearly 200 people, including students, faculty, staff and community members, crowded into Florida Atlantic University’s Student Union on Sept. 11, candles unlit, as they waited for the skies to clear.
At the front of the room, beside a poster of Charlie Kirk with the words “Not just a country, a movement,” speakers remembered the right-wing political activist who had built a national organization from scratch and who, just a day earlier, had been shot and killed while speaking at Utah Valley University.
When the storm passed, they stepped back outside. Students lit white candles one by one, the flames trembling in the humid evening air. Three singers led the crowd in “Amazing Grace,” their voices lifting over the Boca Raton campus as classmates bowed their heads.
It was both a vigil for Kirk, who was 31, and a declaration of what his supporters said he represented: free speech, civil discourse and a refusal to let political violence silence debate.
“We had to do it here, and soon,” said Nick Coyte, 25, a senior who leads FAU’s chapter of Turning Point USA, the conservative student group Kirk founded in 2012. “Tensions and emotions are high and we need to do our part in reorienting people’s emotions in the direction of peaceful, civil discourse.”
A campus response to Charlie Kirk’s death
Kirk, a commentator and political organizer who became one of the country’s most visible voices for the conservative youth movement, was killed Sept. 10 when a gunman opened fire as he addressed students near Provo, Utah. His death reverberated quickly through college campuses nationwide, especially at FAU, where Coyte and others scrambled to organize the memorial within hours.
Adam Hasner, the university’s president, opened the vigil with a reflection on the challenge of guiding a campus community through grief and anger.
“While this didn’t happen on our campus, it did happen on a university campus,” Hasner said. “It reminds us of the lack of civil discourse that we have seen on college campuses throughout the country.”
Hasner, who said he first met Kirk more than a decade ago when Turning Point USA was “just an idea hatched in a basement,” described him as a “happy warrior” and “true American patriot.”
“He was assassinated yesterday while exercising his right to free speech while encouraging civil dialogue,” Hasner said. “He may be gone, but I assure you what he stood for will never be forgotten.”
Voices of grief: ‘I feel very sad. I can’t stop crying’
For many students, the vigil was deeply personal. Lauren Caggiano, a sophomore and member of the FAU chapter’s executive board, said she had struggled to process the news.
“Honestly, I feel very depressed,” she said. “I feel very sad. I can’t stop crying.”
She described Kirk as a father figure to young conservatives who gave them “a voice” and a sense of belonging.
“We think of him as our big brother, as our leader,” she said. “We can’t let his message die.”
Others who attended said they were drawn not only by political sympathy, but by a sense that violence against a public speaker represented a threat to shared values.
“It’s not his political views that have me out here,” said Brandon Stebbins, a 20-year-old junior. “It’s just the state of the world that would cause somebody to murder someone for their beliefs. He’s a martyr.”
Lucas Almeida Lobo, 18, a first-year student from Brazil, said he had followed Kirk’s speeches on YouTube for years.
“It’s like a member of the family had died,” he said.
An unusual show of unity
One moment that speakers and attendees alike emphasized was the joint statement issued a day earlier by FAU’s chapters of Turning Point USA and College Democrats, condemning the shooting and calling for respectful engagement in campus politics.
“We unequivocally condemn any form of political violence,” the statement read. “Political violence has no place in America, a proud nation with a long and strong tradition of healthy debate when faced with political disagreement rather than resorting to violence.”
Hasner praised the collaboration as a rare but vital gesture.
“Two very different student groups with very different ideological views came together and issued a statement denouncing political violence and supporting free speech,” he said.
A movement on campus
Turning Point USA, founded by Kirk when he was 18, has grown into one of the most prominent conservative organizations on college campuses.
Coyte described the FAU chapter as having a checkered history, with periods of inactivity and disorganization before he helped rebuild it as a freshman. Today, the group maintains regular contact with other political student organizations and hosts debates, guest speakers and discussions on a variety of topics.
“Our main goal has been to bridge divides,” Coyte said. “We’ve had members of our opposing political views come and participate very peacefully.”
Still, the group often faces criticism from peers and faculty.
“We get abuse hurled at us all the time,” Coyte said.
The chapter typically draws 25 to 50 students to its events and primarily recruits through tabling and open discussions on the breezeway, he said.
Remembering Kirk: Now, ‘what are we going to rally around?’
Throughout the evening, speakers returned to the idea that Kirk’s legacy was not only political, but rooted in his approach to dialogue.
“The question is, what are we going to unify around?” asked student Ryan McDaniel. “Are we going to unify around our sadness, which is going to go away, or are we going to unify around something lasting, like our faith and our convictions and the courage that Charlie demonstrated throughout his life?”
As the candles flickered and the hymn concluded, students stood quietly, some holding hands, others wiping away tears. Many lingered in small clusters, talking softly before leaving.
For Coyte, that atmosphere — reflective, civil, emotional but restrained — was exactly the point.
“We want to keep civil dialogue alive,” he said.
Jasmine Fernández is a journalist covering Delray Beach and Boca Raton for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at jfernandez@pbpost.com and follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @jasminefernandz. Help support our work. Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FAU students hold emotional memorial for Charlie Kirk: We wanted to do our part
Reporting by Jasmine Fernández and Francesca Abarca, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
