Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called out the University of North Texas Friday morning for singling out a student that “denounced the assassination of Charlie Kirk.”
According to Paxton, he believes the university “potentially violated Texas law by punishing a student for voicing support for national hero Charlie Kirk in the aftermath of his political assassination.
The incident Paxton refers to is a video circulating of students in a UNT classroom passing around the video of Kirk being shot and supposedly cheering about the event.
BREAKING – A University of North Texas student is going viral for confronting classmates who were passing around a video of Charlie Kirk dying while laughing, and says the professor singled her out and asked her to leave class. pic.twitter.com/tNn9riEtrW
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) September 11, 2025
“On Sept. 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was assassinated for his courageous defense of truth, patriotism and Christian belief,” said Paxton in a statement. “Instead of mourning this shocking political assassination, radical leftists across the country celebrated the tragedy.”
Amid the news of Kirk’s assassination, Paxton said “one brave student expressed her opinion that the political assassination should not be celebrated,” which led to her being forced to leave the classroom by the professor.
On Sept. 11, the university released a statement about the assassination of Kirk and “recent actions by a few of [its] community members” that did not reflect the values of the UNT community.
On Saturday, UNT President Harrison Keller issued a statement on Paxton’s letter: “I appreciate the concerns expressed by Attorney General Paxton. We take these and all allegations of misconduct by students or faculty very seriously. We expect UNT students and community members to conduct themselves in a manner that upholds the values and policies of the university.
We are currently 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.”
The accusations come amid government officials putting lots of pressure on higher education institutions.
Recently, Governor Greg Abbott called for the expulsion of a student from Texas State University that allegedly mocked the assassination of Kirk at a vigil on campus.
Hey Texas State.
This conduct is not accepted at our schools.
Expel this student immediately.
Mocking assassination must have consequences. https://t.co/lR0ovIDLBL
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) September 16, 2025
Also, Texas A&M announced its president, Mark Welsh, will step down Friday evening.
While the press release from the university didn’t give a reason, recent backlash from the public and government officials over gender discourse in a children’s literacy course offered by Texas A&M brought a lot of attention to the university on social media.
According to the letter, Paxton believes the incident might have violated the university’s student conduct, employee ethics and two different free speech policies.
“For too long, universities have become incubators for radical left-wing ideology instead of fostering a space for learning and open, peaceful discussion of ideas. Instead of addressing the disgusting celebrations of political assassinations, UNT has protected these terrorist sympathizers and punished the brave student who stood up to the radical mob,” said Attorney General Paxton. “I will not remain silent when our so-called institutions of higher learning stifle free speech and encourage an atmosphere of political terrorism. UNT must answer for its apparent negligence.”
To read the full letter from Paxton, visit the website of the Office of the Attorney General.
This is a developing story, check back later as more details are reported.
