Students, administrators and members of Congress gathered on campus Wednesday evening to honor the memory of conservative activist Charlie Kirk following his assassination at Utah Valley University last week.

About 100 people gathered in the basement of the School of Media & Public Affairs to remember Kirk’s life and pray for his family at a memorial service led by the GW College Republicans, which included remarks from University President Ellen Granberg and four Republican members of Congress. The crowd later moved to Kogan Plaza for a candlelight service and moment of prayer reflecting on Kirk’s legacy and the need for unity in an increasingly polarized political climate.

Granberg said she was “so proud” of how the College Republicans, GW College Democrats and the Young Americans for Freedom handled the fear they felt the day of the shooting and lauded the groups’ planning of Monday night’s unity circle, where they denounced political violence and talked about the importance of communication across the political spectrum.

“One thing I know about Charlie Kirk is he believed in communicating, and I can’t imagine a better tribute to his memory than students coming together and communicating,” Granberg said.

Granberg said she met with leaders of the College Republicans in the immediate aftermath of the shooting to discuss safety concerns for their event with Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) slated to take place that evening, where student leaders said officials pledged to bolster security measures at future speaker events.

“You all led us in those days and I know you will continue to do so, and we are all behind you,” Granberg said. “We are going to be here for you as you continue to do this work, and we’ll do it with you.”

Still, the community is grappling with deep divisions in the wake of the shooting, including comments and polls on Fizz — the anonymous social media app — where students have offered strong opinions on Kirk’s death. In one instance, a poll asked students if they supported Kirk’s death, with around 1,100 of the poll’s more than 3,200 voters saying he deserved to be shot.

The memorial service in SMPA and later vigil in Kogan drew heightened GW and Metropolitan Police Department presence, with cruisers blocking off nearby streets and approximately 10 GWPD officers stationed around both sites of the quad. During the event, access to Gelman Library was restricted to GWorld tap-in only.

The security measures came on the heels of officials’ pledge to student leaders to increase security at events, after Kirk was shot and killed at a Utah university event last week by suspect Tyler Robinson.

Other GW officials, like Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Colette Coleman and Interim Provost John Lach, also attended Wednesday’s service in SMPA.

Four Republican members of Congress also gave brief, roughly five-minutelong speeches to the crowd of both GW and non-GW students from nearby schools like Catholic University of America and American University, encouraging them to remember Kirk’s mission to promote meaningful political discussions, especially on college campuses.

Rep. Troy Downing (R-MT) shared a personal story from when he and his wife hosted Kirk as he traveled through Montana a few years ago, where Downing watched Kirk film an episode of his podcast. He said Kirk was “brilliant” at what he did as a speaker, adding that he was devoted to his faith as a Christian and he was proud of Kirk’s work as a conservative activist.

“One of the things that really struck me in watching what he did is he had his opinions and he would ask you to prove him wrong, and he would use facts and he would use the power of debate,” Downing said.

Downing also spoke about his faith in saying that God has a plan for everybody, including for Kirk. He said Kirk’s death, while abhorrent, could have been a part of God’s plan to spread his message and ideas to an even greater audience of people.

“Maybe that was God’s plan, for Charlie to be that catalyst, to really start a much bigger movement to get people to start talking, to start debating, to start thinking about things differently, to start challenging their world views and base it on truth, not on preconception,” Downing said.

Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) expressed disappointment that she witnessed more open debate on college campuses in her native Ukraine than she sees in the United States today. She urged students to embrace the kind of “vibrant” debate that Kirk championed throughout his life.

“If we want to keep this country being the greatest, you will have to get up and talk to the people around you and sometimes people that maybe disagree with you,” Spartz said.

Rep. John McGuire (R-VA) said as a Navy SEAL, he and his fellow troops wouldn’t care if the person who saved them on the battlefield was a Republican or a Democrat, adding that at the end of the day, we are all human beings. He said Kirk was brave and God is turning Kirk’s assassination into something good, mentioning the surge Turning Point USA — the organization Kirk founded — saw in applications from colleges and high schools across the nation after Kirk’s death.

“We need your prayers and we need your advice, because I don’t care if you’re 18 years old or 16 years old or you know things I don’t know, but continue that voice,” McGuire said. “What you can do for Charlie is you can live a life worthy to sacrifice.”

Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) said that even though the crowd is in the midst of the grieving process, they will come together and not allow the “savages” who killed Kirk to win. He said he had never seen any of Kirk’s work in its entirety until after his passing, but that he was exceptional at what he did, including debating students and challenging them to change their worldview.

“You will not allow them to win,” Van Orden said. “That means you shall not be afraid. You will not bend, you will not break.”

Following the speeches, the crowd walked from SMPA to Kogan, where students were led in a brief prayer by GW Catholics’ Chaplain Father James Glasgow, before the crowd laid flowers and lit candles around pictures of Kirk just below the clock near Gelman Library. During the walk, MPD cruisers blocked off 21st Street, from I to H Streets, and H Street, from 22nd to 21st Streets.

The vigil concluded after around an hour and a half of speeches and programming.

Kieran Laffey, chairman of the College Republicans, said the ceremony was emotionally moving because there was a high turnout of people from all across the political spectrum, including GW students, students from nearby universities, GW administration and members of Congress.

“It was really special,” Laffey said. “Looking at this crowd like I had tears. You could really cry.”

Laffey said he hopes students will accept unity more between people with different political beliefs and help bridge the gaps that exist between the Republican and Democratic parties.

“I hope everyone can stay together, fight and pledge to end political violence and to have conversations, because that’s what this country is about,” Laffey said. 

Christina Carris, the executive director for GW College Republicans, said the D.C. Turning Point USA chapter provided GW College Republicans with a trifold poster that asked community members to write what Kirk meant to them. She said some people wrote “very heinous things” on the poster, including “Nazi” and “white supremacist.”

In a picture of the poster obtained by The Hatchet, students wrote positive messages about Kirk, including calling him a “worldwide inspiration” and another describing him as a “true American patriot.” Some individuals wrote “freak,” “anti-Black hate speech,” “white supremacist” and “Nazi” on the poster. 

Carris said while she supports freedom of speech, the poster was meant to commemorate Kirk. She said it’s hard for GW College Republicans when they want to encourage free speech and dialogue among those with different opinions, but people instead anonymously write things behind their backs.

“I just wish we could all sit down and talk about it, rather than hiding behind Fizz, hiding behind social media and writing on our poster behind our backs,” Carris said. 

Students from other universities in the DMV area attended the vigil as well, including students from American University and Catholic University. Johnny Szani, the co-president of AU College Republicans and chairman of D.C. College Republicans, said it was key for people to come together and display their admiration for Kirk and his work.

“The amount of people that showed up to actually pour their hearts out, show respect for him, to lay down flowers and candles, I think speaks volumes to how deeply this man impacted America’s youth and how his power will be felt for decades and decades to come,” Szani said.

Audrey Smith, a junior at Catholic University, said she came out to the vigil because she “greatly respected” Kirk and his work. She said it was encouraging to see a large crowd celebrating Kirk’s life, even at a school where the general student population might not have agreed with his political views.

“A lot of people showed up, a lot of people that I obviously am not familiar with, but it was good to see everybody collecting for a single cause,” Smith said.