SACRAMENTO, Calif. — About 100 protesters picketed and clashed with police Tuesday evening at the University of California, Davis in a demonstration against a far-right radio show host speaking on campus at a conservative student group event.
The event — organized by the UC Davis chapter of Turning Point USA — featured keynote speaker Charlie Kirk with his thoughts on “American values,” according to information posted online by the group. Turning Point USA is a nationwide nonprofit that advocates for conservatism on higher education campuses.
The Sacramento Bee was not given access to listen to the speech by Kirk — who founded and leads Turning Point, a nationwide group of 250,000 student members — but in previous talks he has discussed the challenges faced by conservative youth attending college and has criticized universities that he argues have been taken over by the “totalitarian left.” He has argued that there is no such thing as white privilege, calling it a “racist lie,” and has furthered conspiracy theories about election fraud, COVID-19 and climate change.
