New College of Florida plans to build a statue of Charlie Kirk, the right-wing activist killed in Utah last week, to display on its Sarasota campus, according to a Tuesday social media post from the school.
New College, Florida’s smallest public university, announced the statue with a post on X along with an AI-generated image of Kirk that shows the 31-year-old sitting at a table with a microphone in his hand.
“The statue, privately funded by community leaders, will stand on campus as a commitment by New College to defend and fight for free speech and civil discourse in American life,” the college wrote.
Kirk was shot to death while sitting and talking at an event at a Utah university.
Since 2023, New College has been transformed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who appointed new, conservative leaders to run it and tapped Richard Corcoran, a former Republican lawmaker, as president. The tiny college on the shores of Sarasota Bay was seen as a staging ground for DeSantis’ war on “woke,” as the governor and his allies complained New College was too progressive and indoctrinated students with leftist ideology, and are now reshaping it in a conservative image.
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“Charlie Kirk knew that universities are ground zero for free speech and the marketplace of ideas. These ideas are not luxuries, but the foundation of a free republic,” Corcoran said in a statement Tuesday. “His llfe and tragic death remind us all that a nation cannot survive if it abandons these rights. At New College, we will not step back from this responsibility — we will champion it and seek to be known as the number one college in the nation when it comes to supporting civil debate and freedom of speech.”
Kirk was never on campus, according to New College, but he had a residence at nearby Longboat Key and Corcoran met him on several occasions.
In its post, New College said the statue’s location would be announced in the coming months.
The college did not respond to questions regarding the cost of the statue or when it is expected to be completed.
Similar statues of Kirk have been proposed elsewhere, including one in the U.S Capitol. The day after Kirk’s death, 16 GOP lawmakers sent a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson asking him to erect a statue to celebrate Kirk’s legacy.
Kirk’s assassination sparked strong and mixed responses nationwide, with some mourning the charismatic activist who galvanized many young people, and others resurfacing and denouncing Kirk’s comments they disliked.
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