Bay Area universities considering security for events following Charlie Kirk killing
Although conservative social media star and commentator Charlie Kirk never spoke at UC Berkeley, his killing at a Utah university Wednesday has made Cal officials think about security on their own campus.
"There's nothing more important to the university than the safety and well being of our students," said Dan Mogulof.
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Mogulof is a spokesperson for the university.
He says while the school has long had rigorous safety protocols in place, administrators are constantly reviewing them.
"We have a highly professional police department. We have an emergency management team. We consult regularly with local law enforcement, state law enforcement and federal to make sure we're aware of what the situation is," Mogulof said.
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Kirk was known for visiting college campuses and holding live question and answer sessions with students.
Back in May, Kirk held one of his events on this field at San Francisco State University.
That event's organizer says if it were held today they would probably have to rethink the security elements given everything that's happened.
"It crossed my mind a couple of times over the past 24 hours because we want to have some events this semester," said Takumi Sugawara.
Sugawara is the president of the San Francisco State University chapter of Turning Point USA.
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He says he and SFSU planned the logistics of Kirk's visit for months. A process he says will have to be even more intensive in the future.
"We started talking about the event in February and then I think we had meetings every two weeks," said Sugawara.
While security concerns for big events won't go away anytime soon, Mogulof says it's important for universities to continue creating spaces for freedom of expression to take place.
"If we can't support our students' interest in engaging in debate and discussion about the issues of the day, we've undermined a key pillar of the university," Mogulof said.
Organizers say Kirk was planning a visit to UC Berkeley in the coming months.
