One year ago this week, a young conservative named Charlie Kirk was shot dead on a college campus. His offense? Talking to college students about politics. He was gunned down in front of hundreds at Utah Valley University, killed mid-sentence while doing what he did best – engaging young Americans in blunt, unfiltered debate. His alleged killer, 23-year-old Tyler Robinson, now faces aggravated murder charges and a possible death penalty.

You would think that kind of horror might give even the most radical leftists a moment of pause before cracking wise about political violence. You would think the memory of a man bleeding out on a stage might cool the temperature, even a degree or two. It didn’t.

From The Post Millennial:

A left-wing professor at the University of California (UC) at Irvine who also lectures at Chapman University insinuated that it would be the “funniest thing” if someone were to kill journalist Nick Shirley at Harvard “before the Kirkiversary.”

Shirley will be visiting Harvard’s Republican Club on Wednesday, and in a post to the Republican Club page, UC Irvine professor Matt Goldman commented, “Someone can do the funniest thing just before the Kirkiversary.” Thursday will mark one year since Kirk was fatally shot while holding an event at Utah Valley University.

So let’s be direct about what happened here. A university professor – a man who grades papers and shapes young minds for a living – publicly suggested that someone should do “the funniest thing” to a conservative journalist right before the anniversary of an actual conservative’s assassination. What exactly is the “funniest thing” he’s referring to? What else could it possibly mean? Strip away the irony-poisoned internet language, and you’re left with a grown man, drawing a taxpayer-funded salary, hinting that someone should murder Nick Shirley.

And this wasn’t some momentary lapse in judgment. Goldman also commented “only good ICE agent is a dead one” on the same page. His social media profile featured a cartoon image celebrating the 2024 murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson – posted just five days after Thompson was killed. This is a man who treats political murder like entertainment. A hobby, almost.

The price of telling the truth

Nick Shirley, for those unfamiliar, is the independent journalist who blew the lid off massive fraud at Somali-run daycare centers in Minnesota back in December 2025. That story went nuclear. He later testified before the House Judiciary Committee and announced he’s suing the state of California. His Harvard talk – a “fireside chat” with the Republican Club – is focused on government waste, fraud, and abuse. Bread-and-butter accountability journalism.

For this work, Shirley now shells out between $30,000 and $50,000 every single month on personal security. Let that number sit with you for a second. Fifty thousand dollars a month, just to give a speech at a university without getting killed.

“I will not cower to the radicals or the far left who threaten and plot to kill and destroy our country,” Shirley wrote on X, while asking supporters for help covering his security costs. He called the expense “unsustainable.” No kidding. The man is being financially bled dry for the crime of doing journalism.

A system that breeds this poison

Goldman wasn’t the only one making threats. The Boston Herald reported that multiple users targeted the Harvard Republican Club’s Instagram post. One, operating under the handle “capecodsocialist” (subtle, that), vowed to “make sure he feels unwelcome” and branded the club’s members as “fascists.” Others called Shirley a “propagandist” and a “MAGA plant.”

Spencer Pratt – yes, the reality TV guy, who has reinvented himself as a surprisingly sharp conservative voice – connected the dots. He pointed out that Goldman’s threat came “right on the heels of the UCSB communist professor encouraging students to train with weapons for violent revolution.” Two UC system professors. Two calls for violence. Your tax dollars at work.

Neither UC Irvine nor Chapman University has publicly addressed Goldman’s remarks. Silence, in this case, speaks plenty loud.

They will not be silenced

The Harvard Republican Club responded with backbone. “The young right will never back down from exposing the third world fraud in our nation,” the club declared. No hand-wringing. No cancellation. No retreat.

Tomorrow is September 10th. It is both the one-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s murder and the night Nick Shirley walks into Harvard to give his speech anyway. That pairing is not lost on anyone paying attention. The left’s strategy is simple and old – terrorize people into silence, make the cost of dissent so high that nobody bothers. These young conservatives are giving their answer. They’re showing up. They’re speaking. And no smirking professor with a death joke is going to stop them.

Key Takeaways

• A UC Irvine professor implied someone should assassinate journalist Nick Shirley at Harvard.
• The comment deliberately referenced the upcoming one-year anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s murder.
• Shirley now spends up to $50,000 monthly on personal security just to do journalism.
• Taxpayer-funded universities continue sheltering professors who openly celebrate political violence.

Sources: The Post Millennial, Boston Herald