Left: UVU student Adam Aubade participates in a sit-in with fellow students against DHS. (Tess Crowley, Deseret News) Right: Chalk-art at UVU anti-ICE protests depicts ICE agent being shot in the head.
Since it became the site of the assassination of Charlie Kirk in September of 2025, Utah Valley University has seen an unprecedented surge of left-wing extremism within its student body.
Evidence obtained by The Cougar Chronicle shows how a large network of student clubs and off-campus organizations have spent the months following the shooting perpetuating extremist propaganda, violent rhetoric, and even the harassment of conservative students on UVU campus.
What follows will detail who these groups are and establish their pattern of uncivil, anti-democratic, and frequently dangerous behavior. We hope that leaders, policymakers, and Utah Valley University’s own administration uses this evidence to take meaningful action to help all students feel safe on university campuses.
UVU’s Civil Disobedience Club (CDC)
Within weeks of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, a group of left-wing students organized a new student organization called “The Civil Disobedience Club” or CDC. It’s an officially sanctioned UVU club and appear on the school’s website with the stated mission to “form a robust community of activists who discuss and engage in civil disobedience and other forms of activism in our local community.”
As of the time of writing, their instagram profile features a whiteboard from one of their protests with the words “MAGA = *Nazi swastica*” and “Oil is Evil, Love is Love” and “Anti-Antifa = Fascism.”
The Cougar Chronicle was able to obtain screenshots from within the CDC’s official club Discord channel. These show students mocking the assassination of Charlie Kirk, ideating on and justifying political violence, and saying TPUSA “isn’t welcome” on campus.
As conservative students, we find such rhetoric alarming. We condemn such talk of preparing weapons of war against fellow students.
As we will show, CDC has been some of the most troublesome agitators at UVU over the past six months, but they are not the only ones promoting extremism and uncivil behavior.
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
Another key student club (again, an official UVU club listed on their website) is Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). This national student organization has its roots in the civil rights movements and is experiencing a modern resurgence, acting as an outlet for left-wing student activism.
As shown publicly on the national organization’s primary instagram profile, SDS frequently espouses extreme and violent rhetoric against political targets.
For example, the following was posted on April 21, 2026, and features a call for SDS students around the country to “kick TPUSA off campus” by militating against school administrations, spreading false propaganda, making it difficult for TPUSA to organize, and “resist[ing] their presence.” It even instructs students to “smash their charter” and “smash their events,” which is a direct call for physical intervention and violence against TPUSA.
UVU’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society have demonstrated willingness to follow these instructions from the national organization and are just as extreme in their rhetoric. Just days after the national SDS instagram posted those instructions, the SDS chapter at UVU participated in a coordinated attempt to undermine the fundraising efforts of local TPUSA chapters by targeting and harassing a local Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurant.
Discord messages obtained by The Cougar Chronicle confirm the intent and planning behind this.
Sources from The Cougar Chronicle confirmed that Dave’s Hot Chicken received dozens of calls and fraudulent google reviews, potentially damaging their business.
Anti-Charlie Kirk Memorial Protest
In October and November of 2025, just months after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the SDS and CDC organized protests against the proposal of a Charlie Kirk Memorial on campus. The rhetoric of their flyers, posters, and comments reveals their view of Kirk as a violent, hateful extremist associated with racism and even the KKK.
Documented in this video from the UVU Review, the president of CDC gave a speech at this protest where he justified the assassination of Charlie Kirk, saying “It is truthful to acknowledge that Charlie was a divisive and an openly violent person … this was a guy who constantly stirred the pot to advance his own career.”
And in this video from @UtahFlatRanger, the protesters say they are protesting Charlie Kirk’s “harm,” “hate speech,” and “violence.”
Pro-Venezuela and Pro-Iran Protests
In early January, 2026, the CDC and SDS staged an on-campus to protest the Trump administration’s military actions in Venezuela. Pictures show the whiteboard later used in the CDC’s profile picture, with a Palestinian flag hanging over the words “MAGA=*Nazi swastica*. The post itself accuses the Trump administration of putting “profits, power, and pedophiles” over the American people. Another picture shows a student holding a picture with the words “We’re the reason they’re poor.” Visible are LBTQ+ and Palestine flags.
Pictures posted on another account show a “Trans Liberation” flag at a Pro-Iran protest held in March.
Anti-DHS/ICE Protests
In late January and early February, the CDC and SDS clubs drew media attention when they staged protests and a sit-in over the inclusion of the Department of Homeland Security at a job fair hosted by UVU.
Pictures posted online by a club member reveal extremist views and violent rhetoric targeting conservatives and sitting public officials. One image displays an ice agent being shot in the head, while another connects Utah’s sitting senators to the KKK.
A whiteboard used by the students at the sit-in can be seen spreading extremist misinformation, alleging that the DHS uses neo-Nazi and KKK “dogwhistles” to signal their racism. Another whiteboard called ICE “secret police” and accused DHS of being run by Nazis.
Pictures of the sit-in posted by CDC reveal even more violent rhetoric.
In one photo taken by a conservative student and shared with The Cougar Chronicle, sidewalk chalk from the protest reads “Bella Ciao.”
Bella Ciao is an anti-fascist Italian folk song associated with leftist revolutionary militias and translates to “goodbye beautiful.” The phrase was written on one of the bullet casings allegedly used by Tyler Robinson during the assassination of Charlie Kirk. It has come to be used as a threat to right-wing individuals and groups.
A founding member of CDC was confronted by a TPUSA student about “Bella Ciao” being written on the sidewalk. The CDC student says they wrote it because they “oppose fascism.” The full video is worth watching. The student also claims that drawing and posting pictures of ICE agents being shot is “a vibe,” says that he’s “glad” Charlie Kirk is dead because he was a fascist and “not a good man.” And although he says he would take down the drawing of the ICE agent being shot, as of the writing of this article, the CDC has not.
In a comment on @UtahFlatRanger’s post, an account believed to belong to a UVU Student replied to the video with this:
In April, SDS and CDC held another anti-Ice protest. The Cougar Chronicle sent our own investigative journalist who was given a flyer with “Seven Steps to Stop ICE.” Instructions included to “set a combative example” by “impos[ing] consequences every time that ICE inflicts harm on a community.” It told protestors that “The consequences of cooperating with ICE … must be worse than the consequences of not doing so.” It also called for the creation of “no-go zones for federal forces.”
We find it concerning that students were handing out detailed instruction manuals telling citizens how to militantly obstruct law-enforcement operations. These were handed out by CDC and SDS.
Incidents of Harassment, Violence, and Vandalism
After interviewing several students at UVU, The Cougar Chronicle has documented several incidents from the last six months in which leftist students have harassed, vandalized, or intimidated their peers on political grounds. Many appear directly targeted at conservatives, while others are simply tied to a left-wing agenda.
On January 20th, 2026, a student at UVU aggressively approached TPUSA while the group was tabling. According to student witnesses obtained by The Cougar Chronicle, the student’s intent was to heckle members of TPUSA. Photos of the student have also been obtained, but will not be released publicly to protect the privacy of students.
According to eyewitnesses, the harassing student eventually noticed a “For Charlie” poster behind the group’s table. He lunged for it, and in doing so physically pushed away a stroller carrying another student’s baby, alarming many people present. After taking the poster he attempted to leave with it, but was stopped when TPUSA students formed a human barrier. After more heckling, he put the poster back and was permitted to leave.
According to one witness, “He came back a few more times to heckle us about different political things such as ‘ICE are Nazi’s’, ‘We support fascism’, etc.” TPUSA says they informed police about the aggressive behavior at the time.
This wouldn’t be the first time this student caused issues. On another day, a different witness recounts that the same individual got aggressively close to TPUSA students, even getting in one student’s face while heckling, until he was informed that nearby police would be alerted if he tried something again. One witness said the student was “too close for comfort.”
Another instance of TPUSA being targeted can be seen in a video from February 4, 2026, filmed by Sage, an officer with TPUSA UVU, which shows a student using scissors to cut up TPUSA wristbands at a tabling event.
Targeting posters and marketing materials is common. In a more dramatic instance, left-wing students targeting property occurred when UVUSA, UVU’s student leadership association, put out a Harry Potter-themed recruiting campaign. One sign was ripped from the ceiling, while two others were graffitied with the words “F**k terfs,” “Eat sh*t terfs” and “Go to hell terfs.”
TERF is an acronym that stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. In this context, it refers to JK Rowling’s well known anti-trans activism. The individual or group responsible for this vandalism was protesting Rowling, and saw these Harry Potter themed advertisements as transphobic by association.
Meanwhile, screenshots obtained from the Discord of “Spectrum Club”(UVU’s official LGBT club) show members of the group calling Sage, then the communications specialist for Turning Point USA at UVU, “evil” and “fascist.” They spread false rumors that she uses slurs and told students to kill themselves. More dehumanizing language follows as one student calls her a “beast” at heart.
According to Sage and other members of TPUSA interviewed by The Cougar Chronicle, these allegations are completely false, but such unfounded accusations against conservatives are common occurrences on campus.
Another incident of the word “fascist” being used against conservatives students involved a “gratitude wall” put up in one of UVU’s buildings in January. When one student wrote, “Charlie Kirk” as something they were grateful for, another student wrote, “was a fascist” next to it.
According to four conservative UVU students we interviewed separately, many of the left-wing individuals and groups we have mentioned in this report have responded negatively to invitations to friendly debate and open dialogue. We are saddened by the one-sided nature of peacemaking attempts in UVU’s political community.
The Cougar Chronicle condemns in the strongest terms the actions and rhetoric being employed by these particular individuals and groups at Utah Valley University. While institutions of higher learning should be refuges for different points of view, they ought not tolerate irrational, extremist rhetoric with no basis in reality.
Calling law enforcement personnel and conservatives such as Charlie Kirk and members of Turning Point USA “fascist,” “nazi,” or “white supremacists” is rhetoric that leads to violence. It is divisive, uncivil, and untrue. It creates a learning environment that, if not immediately physically dangerous, is incapable of harboring free, open, and rational thought–something essential for a university to function.
By failing to curb this extremism and reconnect students with reality and civility, UVU risks the intellectual crippling of their students as well as their physical safety. Parents and university faculty who permit such extreme rhetoric on the grounds of tolerance fail in their duty to educate and foster productive citizenship in the rising generation, and we call on them to act in pursuit of a new course.
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