(The Center Square) – One Wisconsin lawmaker is openly chastising the University of Wisconsin for its silence about Charlie Kirk’s death.
State Rep. Alex Dallman, R-Markesan, wrote an open letter Wednesday, asking the university’s president and campus chancellors why no one has said anything official about Kirk’s killing last month on a college campus in Utah.
“One would hope that there would be some kind of statement from our university leaders here in Wisconsin,” Dallman wrote. “A statement about how our taxpayer-funded universities are going to make sure that students in Wisconsin can freely express their views. A statement about how political violence – regardless of ideology – is wrong and should be condemned. A statement about how students can respectfully disagree with each other civilly. But instead, nothing.”
Dallman is not the only one who noticed UW’s silence.
UW-River Professor Trevor Tomesh wrote an open letter of his own last month, logging many of the same complaints.
“The fact that Charlie was killed on a college campus for expressing his opinions and ideas — the one place in society what’s sole purpose is to express opinions and ideas — should be a watershed moment for all universities. Every single member of every single university community — faculty, administrators, staff and students — should be lamenting this as it spells the death of the university,” he wrote. “To date, there has been no statement from my university or the university of Wisconsin system.”
Tomesh said conservative students on UW campuses see the university’s silence as an endorsement of political violence.
Dallman said the UW needs to make it clear that no one on campus supports violence, political or otherwise.
“I can already tell you what UW System chancellors and President Rothman will say: UW’s new policy prohibits university leaders from making statements that are political. The purpose of this new policy is, uphold and protect academic freedom, freedom of expression, and an environment in which competing ideas can be freely discussed and debated by all members of the university community,” Dallman added. But he said that’s not enough.
“I challenge our university leaders to not only engage students in open dialogue, but to actively invite speakers across all sides of the political spectrum to engage in civil discourse on every campus in Wisconsin,” he wrote. “Charlie said it best, ‘when people stop talking, that’s when you get violence.’ It’s time for our universities to start talking – our future generations depend on it.”
