MORGANTOWN – Two days after conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated while engaging with students on the campus of Utah Valley University, West Virginia University Board of Governors Chair Robert Hutson asked for a report on campus security procedures and protocol.
Speaking to WVU President Michael Benson, Hutson said the request came “in light of what happened on that campus this week.”
“What we don’t want is anything like that to ever happen here. And you know, look, we’ve got speakers and people that come here all the time. We have big events, football, basketball and other things,” Hutson continued. “I would love for us to have some discussions around how we address those.”
Kirk, 31, was the founder of conservative youth action organization Turning Point USA. He was shot with a rifle from a rooftop while approximately 3,000 people looked on, according to law enforcement and media reports.
Benson noted his wife attended Utah Valley University. He said leadership would work with WVU Police Chief Sherry St. Clair to make the requested information available at a future meeting.
“An event like a few days ago gives every campus a chance to say, ‘Hey, what are we doing? What’s in place? What’s going to happen?’” Benson said. “Again, that’s someplace else where we need to be prepared.”
Some of that preparedness was put to the test on the morning of Aug. 26 when a caller to MECCA 911 reported they were trapped in WVU’s Wise Library with an active shooter.
The call, later determined to be a hoax, included simulated gunshots in the background.
Officers with WVU Police, the Morgantown Police Department, the Star City Police Department and the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department converged on the library and cleared the building.
It was one of a cluster of “swatting” calls targeting colleges and universities gearing up for the start of classes.
Reports indicate those calls have intensified again in the wake of Kirk’s death. A midshipman in the U.S. Naval Academy was shot Thursday when he mistook an officer responding to a swatting call as an active shooter.
In addressing the Board of Governors on Friday, Gov. Patrick Morrisey said institutions of higher learning cannot cede freedom of speech in the wake of such attacks.
“College campuses and higher education institutions were meant not only to be the beacons of learning, but of free speech,” Morrisey said, adding, “I would ask WVU, looking at the last few days, to see the terrible tragedy of what happened to Charlie Kirk. Let’s let free speech reign on college campuses. Let’s let diversity of ideas grow. And let’s make sure that people know West Virginia is different.”
