Correction: An error regarding Katie Zacharia’s employment status at Pepperdine has been corrected. According to a University spokesperson, Zacharia no longer serves as director of development for Special Projects; as of Sept. 18, both Pepperdine’s website and Zacharia’s LinkedIn list her in the position.
One day after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, over 100 Pepperdine community members gathered in the Amphitheatre for a vigil where students and University officials spoke positively about Kirk’s politics and legacy.
Pepperdine’s Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter organized the event, which celebrated the life and legacy of Kirk, who co-founded the national TPUSA organization in 2012, according to BBC News. The chapter’s Instagram page announced the vigil hours after the assassination of Kirk at a Utah Valley University event Sept. 10, according to the Associated Press. The vigil included live worship music and a candle-lighting ceremony.
“He was a courageous and relentless advocate for freedom and free thinking,” said Bethany Kronlund, senior and president of Pepperdine’s TPUSA chapter. “His calm and respectful demeanor and his unwavering commitment to dialogue without violence continues to serve as an inspiration to us all.”
Among the attendees were several administrators, including President Jim Gash, Chancellor Sara Young Jackson, Pete Peterson, dean of the School of Public Policy and Sharon Beard, interim vice president for Student Affairs. Tim Spivey, vice president for Spiritual Life, gave a prayer during the vigil.
Kirk was known as one of the biggest commentators and advocates for Trump-aligned politics, especially among college-aged conservatives, according to The New York Times. He often debated college students about politics, which generated a stream of viral social media content.
Sociology Professor Charles Hall, who attended a TPUSA conference in July as part of his research on Christian nationalism, said Kirk’s politics were “extremely conservative.”
Kirk’s political beliefs included anti-transgender, anti-Muslim, anti-gay and anti-feminist views. He described the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. as “awful,” called the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 a “huge mistake” and promoted the Great Replacement Theory, a conspiracy theory that purports the existence of a plot to replace white people through the immigration of non-white people, according to The New York Times.
Kronlund opened the event by thanking attendees for their presence. She acknowledged the vigil landed on the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. Kronlund and other student organizers led the Pledge of Allegiance before giving a set of opening remarks in which she reflected on what Kirk and his activism meant to her.
“This is a reminder that this is solely a vigil and not a political event,” Kronlund said.
She said she attended multiple events — including TPUSA conferences — where she saw Kirk speak in-person. Her remarks were followed by nearly 10 minutes of student-led worship.
Katie Zacharia’s Remarks
After that, alumna Katie Zacharia (‘07, JD ‘11), former director of development for Special Projects, gave remarks. Zacharia is a member of the Caruso School of Law (CSOL) Dean’s Council, a frequent Fox News contributor, attorney and political analyst. Zacharia was the assistant to President Emeritus Andrew K. Benton from 2007 to 2008 and a research assistant to Gash at CSOL in 2011, according to her LinkedIn.
Zacharia currently serves as the legal and senior advisor for Fix California, a conservative voter registration organization that Richard Grenell, the current presidential envoy for special missions, founded. She is also on the Board of Advisors for The White Rose Resistance, an anti-abortion nonprofit named after the non-violent anti-Nazi resistance group.
“I have tried to rack my brain to come up with someone like Charlie, who could both be magnanimous, courageous, but take these insults that were hurled at him with humor and stride,” Zacharia said. “That he didn’t hurl back insults, but instead engaged in logic.”
Hall, who was unable to attend the vigil, said Kirk’s debate style was not healthy.
“He’s a good debater,” Hall said. “He’s smart, he’s articulate, but he can cross the line in demonizing the people he’s debating. And sometimes he did that in the Prove Me Wrong stuff.”
Zacharia then spoke about the Pepperdine TPUSA chapter’s plans to have Kirk speak at Pepperdine in the near future. She said she personally met Kirk multiple times.
“We so desperately wanted Charlie to come speak here at Pepperdine,” Zacharia said. “He was so excited at the opportunity and prospect, and we had things in the works over the next year to have Charlie right here.”
She encouraged the audience to continue Kirk’s legacy.
“It is incumbent upon all of us to be Charlie’s voice here at Pepperdine, and honestly across the nation and across the globe, because Charlie cannot be here any longer,” Zacharia said. “So we get to carry the torch of his voice and his courage and be that voice here at Pepperdine.”
Zacharia then compared the assassination of Kirk to the 1945 political execution of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an outspoken German Christian pastor who resisted the Nazi regime. She then challenged the idea that Kirk was “hateful” and “terrible,” citing the content of Kirk’s book “Right Wing Revolution: How to Beat the Woke and Save the West.” She held up a copy of the book during her remarks.
“This entire book is predicated on taking courage when no one else will, to not be silent in the face of evil, to with great, great consequence and potential for loss of life as we saw him experience, to go and courageously fight the good fight at any cost,” Zacharia said. “As Bonhoeffer said, ‘Silence in the face of evil is evil itself.’”
She then praised Kirk’s activism.
“Charlie inspired a generation to think for themselves, to debate a woke insidious ideology that was infesting our country,” Zacharia said. “And honestly, the word and name ‘Turning Point’ is so incredible because he served as this linchpin, as this turning point in American culture, to reclaim Christianity, to reclaim family values and to reclaim a love of your country.”
After that, Zacharia reflected on what she believed Kirk’s assassination means for the future.
“Yesterday’s political assassination on Charlie marks a time when we have to say, ‘We have had enough of the political violence,’” Zacharia said. “We will start speaking out against everything that is hateful, and that things that are tearing apart our country and our culture and our family, that we have a duty to speak out against this.”
To cap off her remarks, Zacharia praised Kirk’s ability to be a husband and father, then brought up three of her children to briefly speak. One of Zacharia’s sons met Kirk at a TPUSA convention in Detroit, moments before going backstage with President Donald Trump, Zacharia said.
“He asked me to recite the Declaration of Independence, and I did it for him, and he said I would do great things in my life,” one of Zacharia’s sons said.
Student Club Speakers
After Zacharia’s remarks, Kronlund moved to introduce three student club leaders who she said “represent the heart of our community.” First up was senior H.L. McCullough, SGA President and former Graphic staff member, who encouraged the audience to humanize one another.
“As we gather here today, sitting side by side in this Amphitheatre, my heart feels the weight of grief,” McCullough said. “Not only as we remember the events of September 11th, 2001, but also as we confront recent tragedies that have shaken our community.”
McCullough said he hoped the audience could choose “hope over fear” and “unity over division” during his roughly four minutes of remarks. He called upon the audience to seek Jesus Christ during their mourning, invoking John 3:16.
After McCullough, senior Audrey Riesbeck, president of the Pepperdine College Republicans, spoke.
“I was blessed to meet Charlie and his wife a couple of times, and he truly is such a kind and genuine soul,” Riesbeck said. “He was a strong Christian that believed in the promise of America and empowering young men and women to stand firm in their principles and speak out.”
Riesbeck said Kirk inspired her during the beginning of her career in politics, which has thus far included internships for Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio and Vice President JD Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign, according to her LinkedIn.
“I do not want Charlie’s death to be in vain,” Riesbeck said. “The way that we can continue his legacy is by fostering that same open debate of ideas and discussion with those we disagree with.”
TPUSA led a “Professor Watchlist,” an aggregated list of college professors who “discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom,” according to its website. The project has been criticized as a threat to academic freedom which sought to silence dissent, according to multiple news outlets, including The New York Times.
Charlie Leeds, junior president of Pepperdine’s Students Supporting Israel chapter, spoke after Riesbeck. According to his LinkedIn, he is also an intern at Decorus Imperium, a financial advising firm whose advisory board includes Zacharia. His parents were in the audience; his mother, University Board member Dina Leeds, sat next to First Lady Joline Gash and Jim Gash.
“To my fellow Pepperdine students, I implore you: do not only mourn the death of Charlie Kirk, rather, live for the ideals which he put his life on the line for,” Charlie Leeds said.
Like the other speakers, Charlie Leeds also condemned political violence during his remarks.
Final Remarks
After the student club speeches concluded, Spivey led the audience in a prayer.
“We pray tonight for all who mourn: family, friends, colleagues and especially students, who look to him as an example,” Spivey said. “Comfort them in their loss, and let this moment draw us together as a community of faith. And as we keep vigil tonight, may the light of Christ shine in our darkness.”
Senior Jayden Hanson, vice president of Pepperdine’s TPUSA chapter, also gave remarks followed by a prayer. He said he hoped Kirk’s death would lead to a deeper reflection and reminder of how Kirk was a “martyr of the truth.”
“The devil may have thought that he silenced Charlie’s voice, but the movement of Christ and his truth roars loud like lions, and his movement is a ripple effect that the enemy cannot destroy,” Hanson said. “For Charlie’s work on this Earth and all that he did for us, especially in the University, was to advocate for us to become strong men and women who pursued truth and goodness.”
Hanson asked the audience to engage in the “pursuit of truth,” a value which appears in Pepperdine’s Affirmation Statement, before ending in prayer.
“I pray for our student body and the college campuses across America that hope would be restored, and that you would raise up a new generation of strong men and women that will be leaders within our classrooms, workspaces and government,” Hanson said.
Hanson then opened up the vigil for audience members to speak about Kirk. Five people spoke, including Dina Leeds, who said Kirk “spoke the truth,” “no different than our prophets.”
“The tragedy will never fade, but his [Kirk’s] words will live on, and they’ll live on through each and every one of you who have come tonight and to continue on to speak his words, and to speak the words of truth,” Dina Leeds said. “That truth will be your truth. It’s why you’re here at an incredible university such as Pepperdine.”
The vigil concluded with a candle-lighting ceremony and a final worship song. A table at the top of the Amphitheatre had note cards and pens for community members to write messages for Kirk’s family, which the TPUSA chapter would deliver.
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