Arizona State University (ASU) could be in hot water with the Trump Justice Department after a club there accused the university of refusing to allow a vigil for Charlie Kirk without a slew of extra expenses and difficulties.
College Republicans at ASU explained that university leadership would not let them hold a prayer vigil without a venue much too large for their purposes or a budget with a massive amount of security and administrative fees to top it off. Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the DOJ‘s civil rights division, promptly responded with a warning to the university that its actions were potentially illegal.
Troy Holderby, president of College Republicans at ASU, issued a statement on what he called “roadblocking” from ASU. After the “tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk,” he stated, his club, “along with fellow ASU students from all walks of life, have attempted to hold a heartfelt memorial service and prayer vigil to honor Charlie’s life and legacy.”
But that proved easier said than done. “All our club members and the students we’ve heard from on campus want is for ASU to allow our student club the opportunity to use a reasonable place on campus to hold a peaceful prayer service as we grapple with the reality of losing a mentor, role model, and steadfast defender of the right to free, open, and civil discourse,” he pleaded.
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The university is claiming that a simple prayer gathering is not acceptable, that the club has to pour vast amounts of money into a high security event, Holderby charged. “Unfortunately senior administration at ASU has been thus far totally unworkable, while trying to force us into a venue 15 TIMES LARGER then we requested, and attempting to saddle our volunteer-led student club with potentially HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS in administration and security related costs.”
He slammed this as “wrong” and petitioned ASU senior leadership “to come to the table in good faith to remedy this situation this weekend, so that our prayer vigil may take place as planned on Monday evening.”
Holderby’s fellow College Republicans backed up his statement and begged, “We’re simply asking for a reasonable place on campus for students to host a prayer vigil to honor the life & legacy of Charlie Kirk.” They cannot afford the event proposed by ASU, and do not want to give up on having a prayer vigil for Kirk altogether.
The controversy quickly caught the attention of someone in the Department of Justice (DOJ). Dhillon replied to the complaint on X. “It is illegal for a public institution to levy additional security fees based on the expected reaction of a hostile crowd of losers — a so-called ‘heckler’s tax’ — I sued UC Berkeley over this and won. ASU needs to check with a lawyer asap,” she warned.
As an Arizonan, I can affirm that ASU, like most other if not all other big public universities, is very woke. We cannot of course say for certain what the motivation of ASU leadership is in creating difficulties for the prayer vigil, but it wouldn’t be surprising if they are demanding more of College Republicans to pray for Charlie Kirk then they would if a BLM club wanted to hold a rally. In fact, earlier this year, ASU caused a scandal by renaming segregated graduations, but still retaining them.
It is crazy that in 2025 gathering to pray for a murdered man in America is considered too politicized to be treated as ordinary.
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