FEATURED
ANALYSIS
SALT LAKE CITY — Two members of the University of Utah College Republicans are being threatened with possible punishment for criticizing a student who mocked Charlie Kirk’s assassination to their face.
The Office of the Dean of Students told Rylie Barnes and Riley Beesley, both leaders in the campus and statewide College Republicans, to come to a meeting on Wednesday to discuss the allegation that they doxxed the peer who mocked Kirk’s murder. That meeting has since been postponed by an administrator.
Barnes and Beesley both received emails stating that the dean received a report “regarding an incident that happened on or about September 11, 2026 and allegedly involves you doxxing another University of Utah student over a political issue.”
The email states the “Standard of Behavior in violation in question” is “Threatening or endangering behavior.”
“We are still waiting to hear from the school,” Barnes told The College Fix Wednesday during an in-person interview.
Neither the dean of students office nor the university’s media team has responded to a request for comment from The Fix.
The investigation followed a viral X post from Barnes, who posted a photo of student Sara Larsen holding a cake that said “Happy Kirkiversary.” Larsen had walked directly up to the College Republicans table last week and showed them the cake.
The phrase “Kirkiversary” is used to mock and celebrate the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Turning Point USA leader Charlie Kirk.
“What is wrong with students in Utah??” Barnes posted on X with a picture of Larsen and the cake. Barnes did not identify or name Larsen in her original post, which has since garnered 6.3 million views.
But online users subsequently posted the name and identity of the student in the photo. One post showed the student’s LinkedIn, as well as her father’s workplace. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and other large social media accounts also shared information on Larsen.
Larsen apologized for her comments.
“Yesterday I made a joke about Charlie Kirk’s murder. My actions and my words are my own. I do not represent anyone other than myself,” she wrote on X. “Upon reflection, it was wrong for me to celebrate, or perpetuate the celebration of, Charlie Kirk’s death. I apologize for doing so sincerely. Nobody should be murdered or persecuted for their speech.”
The Fix emailed the three email addresses for individuals named “Sara Larsen” in the school’s internal directory on Wednesday to ask what punishment, if any, she wants for the College Republicans. She has yet to respond.
Rylie Barnes, the College Republicans’ leader, condemned Larsen’s cake stunt.
“We found her behavior appalling, vile, and disgusting,” Barnes told The College Fix on Wednesday. “Parents, alumni, and good Utahns alike deserve to know what is happening on college campuses.”
She continued:
College Republicans have zero tolerance for mocking or desensitizing political violence. Patterns of immense left-wing political radicalization have been documented and exposed and we are committed to transparency and accountability, for those who threaten students with violence because of their political views. Other College Republicans and I have reported death threats to the police as a result of exposing unsettling behavior seen from Democrat students.
Students condemn Republicans for their X posts
Some students organized a rally on campus Wednesday in support of Larsen, though mostly the activists just stood around.
College Democrats, Sunrise Movement, and Queer Student Union organized the event. About 25 students gathered on campus, held signs, and wrote letters to the university asking for condemnation of the actions of Barnes and Beesley.
The protesters’ stated demands are “condemnation for the actions that put the student and her family at risk,” condemnation from the student government, and “suspension of the College Republican’s registered student organization status on campus.”
At Wednesday’s protest, Barnes showed The Fix a lengthy document highlighting the “leftists here on campus who have sent me death threats, harassment, and pictures of [the protest] group chat which shared private information about [College Republicans leadership’s] school schedules.”
The College Democrats at the University of Utah posted a statement arguing Larsen made a “distasteful joke” and is now “unable to go to campus, and fears for her family’s safety.” The post says the club condemns “the online harassment and cyberbullying perpetuated by the College Republicans.”
In response to the post from the College Democrats, Beesley posted a thread highlighting hateful rhetoric from the founder of the club, including comments in the wake of Kirk’s assassination stating “Charlie Kirk would still be alive if he didn’t dedicate his life to being a hateful piece of shit who harassed students and spewed racist bullshit.”
Amid the controversy over the cake picture, Barnes has received threats from many social media accounts, as well as an email stating: “It would be a shame if someone shoots you up like Kirky. Tread carefully white trash.”
Likewise, a College Democrats member also made a post saying he received a threat saying “I hope [his] neck stays intact.”
When The Fix spoke to the organizers of Wednesday’s protest, they said “the messaging is not targeted toward any specific group or individual. We are just making sure that our messaging is to the university to protect free speech in general. We have not asked for the removal of any specific group.”
Daylan Alzamora, chapter chair of the University of Utah College Republicans, told The Fix “I wouldn’t even call it a protest, it didn’t amount to much. They just sat there, they didn’t say any chants, nothing.”
When asked about the chapter as a whole given these events, Alzamora told The Fix “We’ve been fired up, we’ve been going, we’ve been growing.” He continued, “Why stop now? Keep going, making sure that we have a conservative group that’s completely okay with being on campus and being loud about their opinions.”
Ian Jacobson, a representative for the University of Utah College Democrats, told The Fix his group supports civility.
“The College Democrats do want the College Republicans on campus to represent conservative ideas and to engage in a civil discourse with us,” Jacobson said during the protest on Wednesday. “We are not trying to get rid of, or expel, them.”
As of Wednesday, the official College Democrats Instagram profile for the University of Utah is listed as a collaborator on the post promoting the protest.
University of Utah says it supports freedom of speech
While university officials threaten to punish student leaders, they are also defending free speech. The University of Utah released a statement saying they “strongly support freedom of expression, including speech that may be controversial, offensive or deeply upsetting.”
“The university is working with those directly affected and is reviewing the circumstances surrounding this matter consistent with university policy and applicable law,” it added.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression said both Larsen’s comments and criticism of her are protected speech.
“The anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s assassination generated a wave of censorship at American colleges and universities. We have seen students and faculty punished for both criticizing Kirk and for speaking out against that criticism,” campus advocacy counsel Maddy Bartsche told The Fix.
“But both responses are protected expressions and should not be punished. Censorship drives ideas underground, but universities must trust students to be strong enough to confront them in the open.”
Editor’s note: The author is a member of University of Utah College Republicans.
MORE: 31 percent of students say some level of violence acceptable to stop campus speech: survey
