Charlie Kirk is a well-known conservative speaker, author, and syndicated radio host who is often invited to speak at universities across the country. Last week, Kirk spoke at an event at Arizona State University called “Health, Wealth, and Happiness.”
At the event, Kirk addressed an ASU faculty petition condemning him and his colleague, syndicated radio host Dennis Prager, for attending the event. According to The Arizona State Press, some ASU students gathered in solidarity with professors and people who felt they were in danger by the speakers being invited to campus.
“I want to make a special shout-out to the 10 professors who didn’t sign the petition,” Kirk said “All the emphasis [about those who signed the petition] was 37 out of 47. I was impressed that there were 10 holdouts. It does tell you a lot about where the academy is headed. If you are a professor who signs a petition like that, you’re just so intellectually lazy and just so sloppy. You are an intellectual midget or coward in my mind.”
Kirk’s rebuttal to some of the criticism he received at ASU was published in a podcast on Sunday.
Not surprisingly, Kirk’s appearance at ASU caused some controversy as his views and opinions have been characterized as polarizing and divisive. Kirk told attendees that it’s important that universities are places where different ideas and perspectives should be welcomed and discussed, even if they are controversial.
Charlie Kirk is the founder and president of Turning Point USA, a non-profit organization that aims to promote conservative principles on college campuses. Kirk’s most recent book, The College Scam: How America’s Universities are Bankrupting and Brainwashing Away the Future of America’s Youth, debates why parents send their children to college and sheds light on how he believes academia has lost its credibility.
“By the way, open invite to any one of the 37 professors, you’re welcomed on my national radio program anytime and you can have an interrupted opportunity to tell me, in front of millions of people, why you believe the stuff you believe,” he added. “Or are you too cowardly because you just want to sign a petition and go off in the distance with your moral superiority?”
