Facing widespread criticism over the security it provided for Republican pundit Charlie Kirk’s speaking event on campus, Utah Valley University said it will now hire an independent company to review its planning — and how it responded after he was shot and killed.
The university announced Monday that it is in “the initial phase of selecting a vendor,” confirmed school spokesperson Ellen Treanor.
She declined to say more about the independent review, including how much UVU anticipates it will cost and when the school estimates it will be completed. When asked if the findings would be released publicly, Treanor said: “We will follow the normal procedures for this type of review.”
“We don’t have any other comment about the review,” she added.
The school said in a brief news release that it hopes the review will detail what it could’ve done better, as well as how to “strengthen safety practices” both at UVU and across Utah’s public universities and colleges in the future.
“We believe the findings of the comprehensive, third-party independent review of this targeted act of violence will offer valuable insights on how college campuses improve response and preparedness moving forward,” said UVU President Astrid Tuminez in a statement.
The review is expected to look at how many officers UVU had assigned to cover Kirk’s event, which has come into question after a single shot rang out, hitting and killing Kirk on Sept. 10 as he spoke at an open courtyard on campus.
The school has said it had eight officers present: six in uniform and two in plain clothes. Kirk also had his personal security team of eight guards.
The university’s Police Chief Jeff Long has previously said: “You try to get your bases covered and, unfortunately, today we didn’t.”
UVU has also said Kirk’s team specifically requested to speak outside in the courtyard so he could easily engage with students walking by. About 3,000 attendees were present.
Officers later arrested Tyler James Robinson for allegedly killing Kirk; he has been charged with seven counts, including murder, and is being held at the Utah County jail without the option of bail.
The Legislature’s School Security Task Force briefly talked about UVU’s impending review during its meeting Monday.
Sen. Ann Millner, R-Ogden, who was previously the president of Weber State University, said the campus shooting has “deeply shaken our community, our state and our nation.”
She said the external review will ensure “the entire process is neutral and unbiased” in examining what happened and coming up with “evidence-based solutions grounded in facts” — instead of responses based on emotion.
“Once the review and criminal investigation are complete, that will be the appropriate time for thoughtful conversations,” Millner added. “Right now, we need to allow them to proceed without distractions.”
Other universities in the state have similarly responded to violence on their campuses with independent reviews.
That happened at the University of Utah after the October 2018 murder of student-athlete Lauren McCluskey.
The U. hired an independent team of three law enforcement experts to investigate how campus police had responded to the concerns McCluskey had reported before she was later shot and killed on campus by a man she briefly dated.
That review concluded two months later that McCluskey’s and her friends’ reports to both campus police and housing officials were not taken seriously. The man’s parole status, for instance, was never checked by campus police. And some of McCluskey’s allegations could have led to his arrest for violations of the terms of his release.
The U. later agreed to a settlement with McCluskey’s parents, paying out $13.5 million to close a lawsuit.