Overview
- Utah Valley University said Thursday it will hold its April 29 commencement without a keynote after consultations with public safety officials and Sharon McMahon.
- McMahon’s now-deleted posts, written days after conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot on the UVU campus last September, criticized aspects of his rhetoric.
- A spokesperson for McMahon said she unequivocally condemned Kirk’s murder and has repeatedly called his death a tragedy that should never meet violence.
- Republican lawmakers including Sen. Mike Lee and Rep. Burgess Owens, along with UVU’s Turning Point USA chapter, urged the university to reverse course and called the selection disrespectful.
- UVU said there will be no replacement speaker and emphasized celebrating more than 13,400 graduates, about one third of whom are first-generation, in a decision that could shape how campuses vet speakers and plan security.