The university released a statement Thursday addressing the reversal:

“Due to increased safety concerns related to the speaker and in consultation with public safety professionals and Sharon McMahon, Utah Valley University has decided to proceed without a featured commencement speaker for this year’s ceremony,” “We look forward to coming together as a community to celebrate UVU’s largest graduating class in history, with more than 13,400 graduates, about one-third of whom are the first in their families to graduate from college.”

The initial selection of McMahon drew sharp condemnation from students and community members, including Caleb Chilcutt, president of the UVU chapter of Turning Point USA. Chilcutt issued a strongly worded statement regarding the administration’s choice:

]]> https://www.academia.org/utah-valley-university-gets-a-n-f-for-choosing-charlie-kirk-critic-as-commencement-speaker/ Wed, 15 Apr 2026 19:52:33 +0000 https://www.academia.org/?p=38560 Utah Valley University (UVU) where TPUSA leader Charlie Kirk was assassinated last September has found itself in the middle of a controversy of its own making. The controversy began when the university announced that their commencement speaker would be Sharon McMahon who is often referred to as “America’s Government Teacher,” and a Kirk critic.

Kirk who was an outspoken conservative and supporter of President Trump was assassinated while speaking to a large group of students and supporters at UVU.

Two days after Kirk’s death McMahon posted parts of quotes from Kirk about Blacks and Muslims, adding “Millions of people feel they were harmed, and the murder that was horrific and should never have happened does not magically erase what was said or done. … But if you were a Charlie Kirk fan, you might not realize why there is so much backlash to posts eulogizing his death.”

Other comments from McMahon have also outraged conservatives who found her selection tone deaf.

“To many Americans, especially if you are Black, LGBTQ or Muslim, Charlie Kirk was not a person who simply engaged in good-faith debates on college campuses,” adding, “It’s important to remember that the incredible tragedy of a public assassination does not erase the harm many experienced from his words and the ensuing actions his followers took.”

McMahon defended her comments in a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune, through a spokesperson stating that she “unequivocally condemned the murder of Charlie Kirk, repeatedly and publicly calling his death a tragedy and stressing that public debate must never be met with violence.”

Outgoing UVU president Astrid Tuminez said in a statement issued by UVU announcing McMahon’s selection

Sharon McMahon is an original. She is a force of nature and a force for good. As a former history teacher, she understands that education can inform, inspire, and instigate courageous action, adding “Sharon’s work reminds us of the power we each hold, and that every individual is mighty in some way. She underlines how each of us can contribute to a vibrant democracy and how strength comes from knowledge, kindness, and collective action. I think our graduates are very lucky to have her as commencement speaker!”

It hasn’t even been a year since the tragic day that Kirk was assassinated which shook the university, the surrounding community and the world at large who were shocked at the brazen nature of his death. Many people are still healing, but that seems to have gone unnoticed by Tuminez and her staff and is a black eye on a fast-growing school.

Chancelor Brandon Creighton outlined the phase out process for programs in an April 9 memo that stated in part the following:

To govern this comprehensive phase-out and ensure statutory compliance for all remaining academic offerings, this document establishes strict course content guidelines. To uphold institutional objectivity, this framework requires the legal recognition of only two human sexes and strictly prohibits the endorsement of a gender spectrum or fluid gender identities as empirical biological science.

To operationalize these standards across all component universities, this document introduces thresholds for SOGI content and establishes the Alternate Materials Rule. The core components of this guidance include:

• System-Wide Program Phase-Out: A formal program review, followed by an admissions freeze, to initiate the closure of all academic credentials centered on SOGI.
• Core Prohibition and Advanced Course Exceptions: A strict prohibition on SOGI content in all core and lower-level undergraduate courses, requiring alternate materials if primary texts center on or include these topics. Conversely, upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses are restricted but feature clear exemptions for strictly defined academic purposes.

Students who are currently enrolled in these programs will be allowed to complete their degrees but no new students will be admitted once the ban takes effect.

These courses expanded rapidly in the last 20-30 years, but with the Trump administration’s war on DEI they have quickly fallen out of favor in conservative states and at colleges and universities that have come under fire from the president himself.

The decision means the department will no longer enforce those agreements, which previously required schools to take specific steps to comply with federal civil rights law regarding gender identity. The affected institutions include the Fife School District in Washington; the Cape Henlopen School District in Delaware; the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District in California; the Sacramento City Unified School District; the Delaware Valley School District in rural eastern Pennsylvania; and Taft College in California.

Both the Obama and Biden administrations had expanded the interpretation of Title IX—which prohibits sex discrimination in education—to include protections for gay and transgender students.

“Today, the Trump Administration is removing the unnecessary and unlawful burdens that prior administrations imposed on schools in its relentless pursuit of a radical transgender agenda,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said in a DOE news release.

Since taking office last year, President Trump has been dismantling protections granted to gay and transgender students regarding gender identity, bathroom use, and sports participation. The administration has argued that participation in sports should be based on biological sex at birth rather than gender identity, citing an increasing problem of biological males competing in women’s sports and capturing titles that otherwise would have gone to female athletes.

With just under three years remaining in his term, Trump has shown he is serious about restoring what he considers “sanity” to education—and he appears to be just getting started.

The latest school to cancel is Thomaston High School, following complaints from a group of indignant parents. This occurred despite reassurances from Board of Education Chairman Nathan Vieira that the event would be strictly educational and non-political.

The Board’s Stance and McMahon’s Response

Vieira stated, “The Thomaston Board of Education takes community trust seriously… There will be no campaigning, no partisan messaging, and no political endorsements. The event will be supervised by school staff and conducted in accordance with district safety and visitor procedures.”

McMahon did not comment on the most recent cancellation, but told the New York Times last month, after the first school canceled her appearance: “Some have tried to brand this tour as ‘radical,’ ‘dangerous,’ and ‘partisan indoctrination.’ How absurd. What you see is not politics—it is a shared commitment to our nation’s story.” She added that it “speaks volumes about certain voices in our society that they would seek to distort a celebration of America’s 250th anniversary and deprive children of this experience.”

The Persistence of Cancel Culture

It appears some critics cannot tolerate even overtly pro-American history when it concerns our nation’s birth and independence. These activists are making sure “cancel culture” remains alive and well, specifically targeting individuals with whom they personally disagree and puttin politics over education.

The primary issue isn’t a lack of quality in the private sector; it is the impossibility of competing with a “free” government alternative. When the city scales up municipal centers, they aren’t just adding seats—they are cannibalizing the existing customer base of neighborhood daycares and faith-based providers.

Private providers operate on razor-thin margins. They must cover rent, insurance, and competitive wages while adhering to rigorous regulations. When a city-run center opens nearby, offering zero-cost tuition subsidized by a massive tax base, the private provider loses its “bread and butter” enrollment. Without those tuition-paying families, the math fails, and the “Open” signs start coming down.

This isn’t just a loss of students; it’s a loss of staff. Mayor Mamdani’s plan involves significant pay parity for unionized city teachers. If private centers are forced to match these rates to keep their staff, they must hike tuition to levels that families simply cannot afford, leaving a gaping hole in their revenue.

The fiscal reality is even more staggering. This year’s $73 million “2-Care” pilot provides just 2,000 seats. That equates to $36,500 per child, compared to the $13,000 average cost for private childcare. Mamdani eventually plans to spend about $6 billion a year on childcare, all footed by taxpayers.

The phrase “elections have consequences” is highly appropriate here. Mamdani’s promises of “free” services will leave taxpayers paying a steep price for a socialist agenda that hollows out the private sector.

The latest example of this shift is a bill proposed by Delegate Dan Helmer (D-Fairfax). Passed by both chambers, the legislation prohibits public school teachers from instructing that the events of January 6th were peaceful. More specifically, it permits school boards to adopt curricula regarding January 6th only if they do not portray the event as a peaceful protest or suggest that extensive voter fraud cast doubt on the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Instead, the legislation mandates that the curriculum describe January 6th as “an unprecedented, violent attack on U.S. democratic institutions, infrastructure, and representatives for the purpose of overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election.”

There is no doubt that President Trump was unhappy with the 2020 results and explored various avenues to challenge them. However, when looking at the raw numbers, the events of January 6, 2021, were not as universally violent as the “insurrection” label implies.

Out of an estimated 50,000–80,000 protesters in Washington, D.C. that day, the vast majority were peaceful. Roughly 10,000 made their way onto the Capitol grounds, and approximately 2,000 entered the building itself. It was there that the real havoc ensued, resulting in injuries to both protesters and Capitol Hill Police officers.

By the end of the legal fallout, over 1,200 people were charged with various offenses. Of those, roughly 450 were charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, and approximately 120 were charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon. Additionally, a small fraction—about 50 individuals—were charged with conspiracy.

This is not to dismiss the seriousness of the charges or the actions of those who broke the law. However, the Virginia legislature appears intent on framing the entire day as a mass riot by Trump supporters, which the broader data does not support. While it was an unfortunate event that the President did little to prevent, labeling it a wholesale “insurrection” turns a complex moment in history into a one-sided political teaching tool.

Most would agree that January 6th should be taught in schools. However, when the state mandates exactly how it must be taught—ensuring only a one-sided argument is presented—it does a disservice to the intellect of the students and the principles of open inquiry.

According to court records the school system was ordered to pay $1.5 million in a final settlement to the families involved in the lawsuit which was a final blow in their effort to defend using LQBTQ books in the system. They were also ordered to pay attorney’s fees for the families involved the lawsuit which totaled $3.6 million. That was on top of the $1.3 million the BOE spent on their own legal fees.

The legal battle began in May 2023 when a religiously diverse coalition of parents—including Muslim, Catholic, and Ukrainian Orthodox families—sued Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).

The dispute centered on a new “inclusive” English language arts curriculum for students as young as pre-kindergarten. The parents objected to specific books, such as Pride Puppy and Jacob’s Room to Choose, which they argued promoted gender transitioning and same-sex relationships in a way that violated their “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Critics of the Board of Education argue that the entire expense was avoidable. Eric Baxter, lead attorney for the families, stated that the settlement sends a message that “running roughshod over parental rights isn’t just illegal—it’s costly.”

In the Supreme Court decision from last year Justice Samuel Alito wrote that “A government burdens the religious exercise of parents when it requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses ‘a very real threat of undermining’ the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill.”

Following the court’s mandate, MCPS was forced to overhaul its transparency protocols. The district implemented what is now known as the “Refrigerator Curriculum”—a set of grade-specific outlines provided to all parents at the start of each quarter.

That curriculum requires that parents be notified at least two weeks before any instructional materials addressing family life or human sexuality are used, an opt out form for parents to excuse their children from specific lessons without penalty and that schools provide “comparable” educational activities for students who are opted out.

The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court was monumental in upholding parent’s rights in the education of their children, but as a former student and parent of Montgomery County Public Schools I would have preferred an opt in form for the materials as my experience has been that parents largely abdicate the education of their children to the school system and have no idea what they are being taught. And taxpayers as a whole just got stiffed for an unnecessary expense at a time when taxes are rising and squeezing residents.

In the suit the DOJ outlined several incidents of antisemitic harassment of Jewish students on the UCLA campus including “signs, graffiti, and chants with antisemitic messages such as “die you f*****g Jew” and “F**K ALL Jews” as well as multiple displays of Nazi swastikas were found throughout UCLA’s campus, including one swastika carved into a tree. A Jewish star was also drawn on the ground with the words “STEP HERE” written on it.”

The university defended its efforts to combat antisemitsim on its campus stating that they have an “unwavering commitment to providing a safe, inclusive environment for all members of our community.”

Antisemitism has been a problem for  colleges and universities across the country since the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel as administrators confronted how to balance free speech with the safety of their Jewish students. The problem is that they largely gave free rein to pro-Palestinian protesters at the expense of the Jewish community and were unable to control the verbal and physical attacks on the Jewish students and faculty that ensued.

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