Margo Ellis, Opinion Editor–

About a week after the initial shock of Charlie Kirk’s assassination wore off, I found myself scrolling mindlessly on social media. 

Looking for nothing in particular, I came across a post on the anonymous app YikYak that caught my eye— a screenshot of an Instagram profile titled “Turning Point USA Denison University.”

This didn’t shock me at first. Listed on Denison’s website are multiple left-leaning social organizations and a few right-leaning ones. 

After Kirk’s death, the outcry on social media was overwhelming, to the point that I came to expect it. Posts calling for an “end to political violence” and “justice for Charlie” flew right past me. It wasn’t that I disagreed, but I found it interesting how many people spoke up this time. Friends I’d never seen post anything remotely political on their Instagram stories suddenly flooded my feed with tributes to Kirk. 

Were more people engaging with his assassination because they’d finally realized how horrible the gun violence in America has become? Or was it just because of his conservative views? 

I understand that this is a tough topic, and I want to make it clear that his death was a horrible and unnecessary result of political violence in this country. However, I don’t agree with the majority of his views and the ideals that he spread across college campuses, high schools, and online platforms. 

Along with the appearance of a Denison Turning Point chapter, the public high school I graduated from in 2024 is experiencing a similar issue. In private Facebook groups for parents and guardians of students in the Highland Local School District of Medina, Ohio, calls for a Turning Point-related club have emerged following Kirk’s death. 

The district, which has a white and upper-middle-class majority student body, is also relatively conservative. 

A Turning Point chapter at my high school would be dangerous not only for the students with identities that the organization ultimately disagrees with, but also for the students that engage with the club. 

For an organization that is known for its anti-LGBTQ+ and (in my opinion) racist and sexist views, a club like Turning Point in a small, public high school could turn more students against their peers. Students on the opposing side of Turning Point’s mission could also begin to target those who join the chapter, creating aggressive stances from both sides of the issues. 

I believe that everyone should be able to talk about their views with others and engage with individuals who agree with them, as long as their views don’t endorse the harm of others. There is an argument that Turning Point does promote that harm— but even I will admit that my feelings toward the organization don’t define its mission. 

I am biased in this sense, and my own opinions on Turning Point do not inherently make it a bad organization. It’s up to everyone else what kind of ideals they want to see promoted on their campuses and in their schools. 

Ultimately, no one deserves to die the way Kirk did. 

However, no child deserves to die crouched under a desk in their elementary school classroom. 

No LGBTQ+ teen deserves to die for their identity. 

Kirk’s death remains a tragedy, as it always will be. Yet it is no worse a tragedy than the numerous deaths of schoolchildren in the U.S. every single year. 

Margo Ellis ‘28 is a politics & public affairs and journalism double major from Medina.