Political student organization leaders said officials pledged to bolster security measures at future speaker events in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Members of GW College Democrats and GW College Republicans said the University pledged to implement metal detectors and bag searches at their future speaker events during meetings with the student organizations, which took place hours after Kirk’s assassination at an outdoor debate on Utah Valley University’s campus Wednesday. Student leaders said the conservative activist’s shooting made them fearful to host speaker events, and they are continuing discussions with officials about increasing security to ensure both speakers and guests feel safe.
University spokesperson Julia Garbitt said the Division for Student Affairs met with several organizations after Kirk’s assassination but did not specify which groups or what they discussed. She declined to comment on the safety measures officials pledged to implement at future College Democrats and College Republicans speaker events.
Garbitt said GW is working with “external partners” to evaluate and make any necessary changes to security measures. She said officials will continue to meet with political student organizations on both sides of the aisle to “assess existing and arising needs.”
Kieran Laffey, the chairman of GW College Republicans, said the organization’s members are frightened to host and attend large events on campus, both with and without speakers, in light of Kirk’s assassination. He said he’s seen members of the GW community, primarily on Fizz and other social media platforms, supporting Kirk’s killing, which left members fearful that people could target their future events.
“Who knows what can happen, but they see people supporting the violence, and they don’t want to have events for a little bit,” Laffey said.
Laffey said the organization paused hosting any major events — both with and without speakers — for the time being as they assess safety concerns. He confirmed that he met with University President Ellen Granberg and Dean of Students Colette Coleman after the shooting to discuss his safety concerns, and will meet with Granberg again next week. He said at the upcoming meeting he’ll bring up specific safety measures he’d like to see at future events, like heightened law enforcement presence, metal detectors and bag and ID checks.
He said when news of the shooting broke, the organization was setting up for their event with Texan Congressman Brandon Gil scheduled for Wednesday night, which the organization then canceled in tandem with Gil’s office. He said he met with Coleman within a half hour of the shooting, who promised increased security if they went through with Gil’s event.
“They promised that they’ll do everything to keep us safe, especially if we were having that event later, they said they’d have police there and everything,” Laffey said.
Laffey said as chairman of College Republicans, he feels he has a responsibility to keep the organization’s members safe, especially in light of specific comments and posts on Fizz, like a poll gauging how many people supported Kirk’s death. The poll, as of Sunday, has over 3,200 votes, with more than 1,100 voters saying Kirk deserved to be shot.
“Our members shouldn’t be put in a situation that they feel threatened in,” Laffey said. “I can speak for myself and a large population of our club, they just don’t feel safe.”
Emily-Anne Santiago, the president of College Democrats, said the minute news of the shooting broke, she contacted Coleman to discuss her concerns about hosting events on campus that bring in high-profile speakers.
“Before we even asked for it, they promised us metal detectors, that they’ll wand people down, that we’ll have security,” Santiago said.
Santiago said Coleman and other University officials have taken her security concerns into consideration and plan on providing these heightened security resources at no cost to the organization, starting with their event featuring Aaron Parnas, a political content creator, on Sept. 30.
She said these security promises guarantee that she and the speakers will feel safe hosting events with speakers, adding that if there was any semblance of danger or if security wasn’t up to par she would cancel an event immediately.
“I’m very confident the University is handling this properly, and I don’t think that the University has an active threat against them,” Santiago said.
Officials placed the Mount Vernon Campus in GWorld Safety Mode on Saturday and boosted campus and local police presence on both the Foggy Bottom and Vern campuses in response to “threatening communications” directed at GW community members after Fox News reported on a staff member’s social media post about Kirk’s assassination. Officials said there is “no immediate threat” to campus and Anthony Pohorilak, who called Kirk’s assassination “fair” in a Facebook post, was “no longer on campus.”
Chloe Schaefer, the deputy chief of staff for GW College Democrats, said in the immediate aftermath of the shooting both her organization and GW College Republicans started “freaking out” because the assassination took place on a college campus at an event for students.
“For the GW perspective, how can we feel safe doing these things when this is happening on both sides of the aisle?” Schaefer said.
Schaefer said the organization has presented Parnas, who is scheduled to speak on Sept. 30, with the details of the updated security measures GW pledged to implement, and he is debating whether he should still attend. She said as of Friday the group has not heard whether Parnas will still come to campus.
Schaefer said the University’s security guarantees have comforted her and the rest of the College Democrats’ leadership, but they haven’t talked with officials since Wednesday’s meeting. She said she hopes the security measures make future guest speakers feel safe as the organization works to book more events for the remainder of the semester, adding that they don’t anticipate struggling to secure guests.
Schaefer said the heightened security measures might look different than what officials initially outlined as they continue to update protocols in the wake of Kirk’s assassination. She said recent incidents at other institutions, like the Navy Academy going into lockdown for several hours Thursday because of unfounded reports that there was an active shooter on campus, might add to the complexity of the situation and fuel broader fears about heightened political violence.
“As we go about the next couple of weeks that’s just going to be an ongoing conversation,” Schaefer said.
Schaefer said the organization has focused primarily on guaranteeing their guest speakers feel safe and comfortable enough to come to campus as they plan future events. She said once they know their speakers are comfortable attending, College Democrats will turn to ensuring the guests feel safe as well.
“I think in doing all of the things to ensure that our speakers feel safe, it will prepare us to be able to ensure that our members feel safe,” Schaefer said.
Schaefer said attendees should expect a security system similar to what exists at major sporting events, like Washington Nationals games, as the organization expects to have metal detectors, extra security guards and bag searches.
It is unclear if the extra security guards will be contracted or GW Police Department officers.
“We have a lot of members, and we want them to feel safe, and we want them to feel like they can go to these large events that we host and have the privilege of hosting,” Schaefer said.
