Paxton asks UNT to investigate students’ responses to Charlie Kirk assassination
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has asked the University of North Texas to investigate after a student was allegedly kicked out of class for denouncing Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
Paxton’s letter, sent to the university’s president and dean of students on Friday, details allegations that on the day of Kirk’s killing, a student “chronicled the vile reactions of her classmates on social media.”
When the student arrived to class that day, an “agitator” showed a video of Kirk’s assassination to other students, who “began to cheer” that Kirk would die from his injuries, the student said.
The other students also allegedly expressed that they wished President Trump would be assassinated, Paxton wrote in the letter.
The student then expressed her own opinion that the assassination should not be celebrated or discussed in class, at which point the “agitator” and other students began to yell at her, Paxton wrote. The professor then reportedly asked the student to take the discussion out of the classroom.
Later on, the student reported the incident to UNT’s Dean of Students Laura Smith, asking that her absence from class not be counted against her grade, according to the letter. Smith told the student to report the incident to the chair of the psychology department, and the student received no further responses from the university, she said.
“Troublingly, the student also stated that she believes the university purposely failed to inform her of her option to file a report in order to avoid creating written documentation of the incident,” Paxton wrote.
Paxton is calling on the university to investigate whether the incident violates several university policies, including ones on employee ethics, student conduct and free speech.
“For too long, schools across the country have ignored complaints of misconduct against left-wing students,” Paxton wrote. “This lack of disciplinary action has reinforced a principle that such conduct is appropriate and, in turn, has contributed to radicalizing individuals to engage in reprehensible actions.”
In a statement provided to the Star-Telegram on Friday night, UNT President Harrison Keller said the university is “conducting a thorough review of recent actions by a few of our community members.”
“I am committed to ensuring UNT provides a safe learning and working environment for all of our UNT students and our community,” Keller said.
This story was originally published September 19, 2025 at 8:46 PM.
