9 In 10 College Kids Say Violence Is Words After Kirk Assassination

Even in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, 91 percent of college students still believe that words can actually be considered violence, and a growing number of college students also believe that real, physical violence can be used to shut down speech.

A new survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) tested college students’ views on speech in the aftermath of Kirk’s assassination, finding an overwhelming 91 percent majority equated words with violence. A still massive 79 percent majority expressed some degree of agreement with the belief that silence — saying nothing — can be a form of violence as well.

Put another way, only 9 percent of college students in America believe words are not violence, and only 21 percent believe you do not need to parrot politically correct propaganda in order to be considered non-violent.

Those numbers need to be understood in the context of nearly 40 percent of college students agreeing with the statement “If someone is using hate speech or making racially charged comments, physical violence can be justified to prevent this person from espousing their hateful views,” according to a 2025 survey from the Buckley Institute.

FIRE has tracked a similar phenomenon, finding in 2020 that about 20 percent of students justified violence in response to speech and in 2024 that number had increased to about 34 percent. FIRE’s new survey saw only a slight decrease to 32 percent of students supporting political violence to stop a speaker.

In the organization’s new report, 48 percent of students believe it is “always,” “sometimes,” or “rarely” acceptable to be able to physically prevent students from going to a campus speech. Only a bare majority of 53 percent said doing so is “never” acceptable. Meanwhile, 71 percent of students said shouting down a speaker is acceptable, only down one point from a spring survey.

Even more alarming is the reality that close to a third of students believe the use of violence to stop campus speech is “always,” “sometimes,” or “rarely” acceptable. Those students were subsequently asked what kinds of violence are permissible, and 26 percent condoned the throwing of projectiles like rocks and bottles. Twenty-two percent condoned the use of chemical irritants like bear spray, 20 percent condoned physically assaulting the speaker, and 17 percent supported physically assaulting attendees, using physical force to prevent attendees from entering the venue, or deploying incendiaries or fireworks on the venue to stop them.

Some students supported even more violent methods, with 7 percent condoning murder and arson; 9 percent condoning bomb threats, kidnapping people, threats of bodily harm to attendees, and the use of firearms; and 8 percent supporting the use of sharp objects like knives and detaining or restraining people.

It is not surprising, then, that in light of Kirk’s assassination on a college campus and leftists’ well-known penchant and support for violence, approximately half of students said they were uncomfortable attending or hosting controversial public events on campus, and about 20 percent said they were less comfortable attending class, according to FIRE.

Forty-five percent of respondents in FIRE’s survey said they were less comfortable expressing controversial views in class.

Another 43 percent said they were less comfortable expressing those views in common spaces on campus, and 48 percent indicated they were not comfortable doing so on social media. Twenty-six percent of students had zero or very little confidence their schools would protect their First Amendment rights. A minuscule 5 percent said they had full confidence in their schools.

Kirk’s assassination and subsequent cheering and justification from the left did seem to change moderates’ and conservatives’ views on certain topics, seemingly convincing them to be less accepting of the violent or aggressive tactics used by the left to “protest” speakers. Leftist students did not change their views on the topic.

FIRE’s survey also noted that moderate and conservative students have, for the most part, doubled down on their support of controversial speakers, while left-wing students have actually grown more intolerant of opposing viewpoints across the board.

Bizarrely, more respondents believe that political violence is a “problem among conservatives” than a “problem among liberals,” while the majority said that it is a “problem among all political groups,” despite there being clear and consistent evidence of much more political violence from the left.

The survey was taken between Oct. 3 and Oct. 31 by 2,028 undergraduate students, including a 204-student oversample from Utah Valley University, where Kirk was assassinated. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.2 percent.

Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.