{"id":17535,"date":"2025-10-02T21:34:55","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T21:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=17535"},"modified":"2025-10-02T21:57:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T21:57:28","slug":"post-kirk-assassination-wisconsin-needs-to-teach-difference-between-words-and-bullets-says-prof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=17535","title":{"rendered":"Post-Kirk assassination, Wisconsin needs to teach difference between words and bullets, says prof"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/www.badgerinstitute.org\/post-kirk-assassination-wisconsin-needs-to-teach-difference-between-words-and-bullets-says-prof\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Silence after attack on the soul of universities puts too much at risk<\/em><\/h4>\n

If we\u2019re to go on having universities that are worth the name, Wisconsin needs to start teaching the difference between words and bullets, says a professor in River Falls.<\/p>\n

That distinction should go without saying, though a survey of 68,000 college students by the free-speech group FIRE just found one-third<\/a> agreeing it\u2019s at least sometimes acceptable to use violence to shut up an opinion they disagree with.<\/p>\n

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Those results came out the day before Charlie Kirk was assassinated by someone<\/a> who disagreed<\/a> with his opinions<\/a>, the day before Trevor Tomesh found himself horrified by what he described as \u201ca ghoulish response\u201d from too many people in higher education, a wave of social-media celebration<\/a> over the killing \u2014 \u201cthe celebration of, literally, the death of the principle of universities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tomesh, a professor of computer science at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, responded by teaching: He gave an impromptu 50-minute lesson to his cyber-ethics class, which was on the cusp of discussing the First Amendment anyhow, about the darkness of the moment, about \u201chow we must pull back from this and encourage dialogue or the American project is dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then described it in those words in an essay-length post<\/a> to the Facebook page of the news site Wisconsin Right Now<\/a>, one where he noted a terrible contrast.<\/p>\n

As he put it to me later, he asked his students, \u201c\u2019How many of you, in all your other classes, have had a single professor explain to you the gravity of this situation?\u2019 Not a single one of them raised their hands. And then I said to them, \u2018How many of you saw Charlie Kirk take a .30-06 round to the throat and bleed out graphically in front of you?\u2019 And almost every single one of them raised their hands, and that\u2019s what made me angry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scant recognition of that traumatic event from adults in charge differed markedly, Tomesh notes, from UWRF\u2019s 2023 offer of a \u201csafe and brave space\u201d for any students who might be upset that a blunt, elderly sidewalk preacher, Sister Cindy, was expected to briefly inveigh, uninvited, against immorality on campus the next day. Administrators saw fit to send a campus-wide email offering solace. The \u201cDiversity, Inclusion and Belonging Office\u201d posted on Facebook \u2014 an offer still visible<\/a> \u2014 that its staff would \u201cbe an open ear\u201d for students needing to \u201cwork through feelings\u201d set off by knowing that others could be hearing Sister Cindy.<\/p>\n

Tomesh credits UWRF administrators\u2019 later response to the Kirk horror \u2014 \u201cthey\u2019ve actually been rather supportive\u201d after his Facebook post caught national attention \u2014 and he adds the disclaimer that nothing he\u2019s said on the matter reflects the university\u2019s views, only his own.<\/p>\n

Campus authorities told him they issued no statement about Kirk\u2019s assassination because of a new UW system policy<\/a> of neutrality.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I\u2019m a fan\u201d of universities staying neutral on political matters, he said.<\/p>\n

But the Kirk assassination wasn\u2019t a matter for political dispute: The man was killed at Utah Valley University while civilly discussing ideas in the sort of place society dedicates to discussing ideas freely.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence against free expression is a core issue that has nothing to do with politics,\u201d Tomesh said. \u201cEven if they don\u2019t use Charlie\u2019s name, they need to address the increase in the acceptability of violence on campuses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where do people get these ideas about using violence? Whence the permission structure that led 71 percent of students in that survey<\/a> to say it\u2019s at least sometimes acceptable to silence speakers by shouting them down?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have an entire generation, or maybe two or three generations now,\u201d said Tomesh, \u201cwho have been told since they were young that speech is something that is tangible, that speech is violence, and that the proper response to speech that makes you feel uncomfortable is violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

If, he said, \u201cyou can say that speech is harmful, then you can justify translating that into physical harm.\u201d If you raise a generation or two to think words are violence, you get fewer words and more violence.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019ve been taught that your every feeling is valid, then ideas that make you feel bad are a personal attack. If your ideas, instead of being separate from your identity, being open to examination, being improvable \u2014 if instead they constitute your identity if \u201cthey replace where God put our soul,\u201d Tomesh said \u2014 then to debate them is to assault your being.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just not the way the West works,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not the way that our university systems work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or shouldn\u2019t be. Tomesh recalls how when he was a UWRF undergrad, a \u201cCollege Democrat-slash-socialist,\u201d his side \u201cwould have these wonderful debates\u201d with College Republicans, \u201cand then at the very end of it, we would go bowling.\u201d That\u2019s an ethic the university\u2019s adults should clearly preach, he says.<\/p>\n

Wisconsinites can help, Tomesh proposes, by writing \u2014 to lawmakers overseeing the university, to the people running their alma mater. They can listen to their kids: \u201cAsk them what they\u2019re learning.\u201d It matters immensely whether they\u2019re learning that ideas are meant to be sifted and winnowed.<\/p>\n

And maybe, said Tomesh, it would be helpful if universities committed openly, at this crisis moment, to nonviolent discussion \u2014 because \u201cif supporting nonviolent discussion is political, then you might want to re-evaluate your politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick McIlheran is the Director of Policy at the Badger Institute.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Any<\/em>\u202f<\/em>use or reproduction of Badger Institute articles or photographs requires prior written<\/em>\u202f<\/em>permission.<\/em>\u202f<\/em>To request permission to post articles on a website or print copies for distribution, contact Badger Institute Marketing Director Matt Erdman at<\/em>\u202f<\/em>matt@badgerinstitute.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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