An Oklahoma State College pupil says a campus official reprimanded him for honoring slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a result of his hat risked making folks really feel “triggered.”
Josh Wilson, a junior who serves within the OSU Scholar Authorities Affiliation, told Fox Information he was summoned by an administrator after delivering a speech in tribute to the Turning Level USA founder on Sept. 10, the day Kirk was assassinated in Utah.
Wilson’s quick speech praised Kirk’s dedication to free speech and civil dialogue.
Josh Wilson, an OSU junior and debate society president, says he was reprimanded and threatened with a “troublesome” 12 months by an OSU administrator after delivering a brief student-government speech mourning Turning Level USA founder Charlie Kirk. https://t.co/b0koqJZTz0
— OCPAthink (@OCPAthink) October 6, 2025
He known as Kirk “a father, a husband, a religious Christian, and a shining mild for therefore many.”
According to the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Wilson additionally wore a Turning Level USA hat that Kirk had given him when he visited campus in April. The hat displayed “45” and “47,” a nod to President Donald Trump.
Wilson mentioned his remarks weren’t political, and he didn’t point out Trump or any political candidate.
College students applauded, he instructed Fox Information, and several other reached out afterward to specific their appreciation.
However the next week, Wilson mentioned he was known as into a gathering with Melisa Echols, OSU’s coordinator of pupil authorities packages.
Echols allegedly instructed him his hat violated nonpartisan guidelines and will upset folks.
“As an individual who doesn’t appear to be you and has not had the identical lived expertise as you, I’ve household who don’t appear to be you who’re triggered, and I shall be very candid with you, who’re triggered by these hats and by that facet,” Echols mentioned, in accordance with OCPA and an audio recording it obtained.
She added, “I’d problem you to ask others who don’t appear to be you” and “have open conversations with anybody that has a special lived expertise.”
Wilson reminded Echols that, like many Oklahomans, he’s of Native American heritage.
“I don’t like to drag that card,” he mentioned, “however in the event you’re going to drag that card on me, I’d as effectively.”
He stood by his proper to free expression, telling Echols, “Any pupil typically ought to have the freedom and never present any worry of expressing their ideas and concepts.”
Echols pushed again, telling him, “‘However’ can’t be the tip of each assertion. That’s not a discovered lesson … In any other case, this 12 months goes to be troublesome for you.”
Wilson known as the comment “a veiled risk.”
OCPA mentioned Echols didn’t reply to its request for remark. The varsity instructed Fox Information that “the group has no official insurance policies to limit partisan expression” and affirmed its dedication to defending and facilitating free expression for all college students.
That assertion may sound comforting, nevertheless it doesn’t erase the truth that a taxpayer-funded worker used her place to lecture a pupil for quoting a murdered conservative whereas carrying a hat.
We should always encourage younger People to report each interplay with officers like Echols — people who find themselves entrusted with shaping college students on the general public dime.
Universities like Oklahoma State have grow to be poisonous battlegrounds the place “schooling” takes a again seat to indoctrination.
As to Echols’ feedback, each human being has a special “lived expertise.”
Wilson’s hat and his phrases mirrored his, and he had each proper to specific them.
Any school member “triggered” by a hat shouldn’t be working in schooling in any respect.
This text appeared initially on The Western Journal.
