From classrooms to campuses: How Kirk’s death is affecting Texas education

AUSTIN – Charlie Kirk’s death is being felt across the globe, including the Texas education system.

Big picture view:

The Texas Education Agency released a statement on Friday, saying it will be investigating “reprehensible and inappropriate” posts by public school staff on Charlie Kirk’s death. The statement claims these posts could violate the educator code of ethics and will be examined for “sanctionable conduct.”

The announcement drew outrage from the Texas American Federation of Teachers (AFT), a union which represents more than 66,000 public educators across the state. In a response, the Texas AFT called the investigations a political witch hunt on Texas educators. 

Dig deeper:

In North Houston, a Klein ISD teacher has been fired for what the district called, “senseless and unacceptable remarks” about Charlie Kirk’s death on social media. 

Local perspective:

On the college level, the Kirk assassination is drawing concerns about the future of public debates at the University of Texas.

“I mean it is just a really scary thing,” says Benjmain Castro, the editor-in-chief of the Orator.

The Orator is a student-led publication, centered around unrestricted free speech. The organization holds debates on campus, but with the death of Charlie Kirk, it has the group worried that violence could become the norm.

“It is frightening to consider that, is this setting a precedent? Is this going to cause some violence in the future? When you’re advocating for free speech, of course, there’ll be people who disagree with you, but our purpose as an organization is to create a dialogue,” says Castro.

Castro says it’s normal for there to be police at large gatherings on campus, but when it comes to smaller debates in classrooms and auditoriums, it can be a lengthy process to get extra security.

“I wouldn’t say it’s easy, but we would have to go through the student services, and it’s well, especially now because it’s the start of the semester, and it may be slow to get back to you.”

Castro hopes to see more security and police on campus moving forward, but in the meantime, their public debates aren’t going anywhere.

“We’re afraid, of course. But you can’t bow down to it,” he said.

What’s next:

The Orator has their next debate scheduled next month and they are confident that students will choose dialogue over aggression.