Bridge SJSU hosted a debate Tuesday evening on Tower Lawn at San José State University. The debate allowed students to voice their opinions about Monday night's guest speaker Charlie Kirk, the founder and president of Turning Point USA.
Bridge SJSU, is a nonprofit organization that fights political divisions on campus according to its official website.
Turning Point USA is a nonprofit conservative, anti-left group that supports defense of freedom, free markets, and limited government, according to its website.
Sabrina Nabizada, political science senior and president of Bridge SJSU, mediated the debate.
“We are not endorsing Charlie Kirk in any sort of way,” Nabizada said. “That is not what we do at our campus. We don't endorse any specific features of any political parties.”
She said the organization invites students of all different political backgrounds to speak in the debate.
The debate began with students speaking on how they feel about Charlie Kirk being allowed a platform at SJSU.
An economics senior who wished to remain anonymous took the mic and expressed that anyone should be given the chance to speak at SJSU. They said that during Kirk's presentation, his views did not seem controversial.
“What I liked about the event was how much time was dedicated to addressing questions raised by those who did not agree with his political views,” the economics senior said.
They also said Kirk was very respectful of those with opposing political views.
History junior and member of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), who also requested to remain anonymous said from their perspective, Kirk seems like someone who wants to have a debate and cause controversy.
“In reality he engages in what I would call, bad faith engagement,” the history junior said. “What I mean by this is typically he tries to go out of his way to portray his opposition on social media in the most negative light possible.”
The history junior also said there were instances where people from Students for a Democratic Society attempted to enter the event to ask questions, but were denied.
The history junior explained Kirk was not willing to address everyone, and was caught off guard by some of the questions asked by the attendees.
“He brushed it off instead of properly addressing it and engaging with it. Also he espoused Christian nationalist white supremacist views,” said the history junior.
Public relations senior, who wished to be identified as FM Allen, said she attended the Charlie Kirk event on Monday and was surprised by the lack of SJSU attendees.
“It was interesting to me that there were barely any SJSU students attending the event, the majority of the people there were elderly and those were the people who wholeheartedly agreed with Kirk and even defended his every word,” Allen said.
Allen said regardless of her viewpoints, this event was a perfect example of upholding free speech.
The debate raised concern about safety following Kirk's event, where a window was broken after a protest against Turning Point USA..
Heaven Watson, African American Studies freshman said these events can potentially put the campus at risk.
“It's about how you present yourself and I think that people are still putting other people at risk,” Watson said. “You can put people at risk for a cause that you support but if your cause is that important you shouldn't have to cause violence to show that.”
Nabizada said when organizations hold events on campus, organizations are not forced to explain what type of event they’re doing.
“Obviously there are guidelines that we all have to abide by, like no underage drinking, no hazing, etc. but overall we’re not required to alert the university on the event topic,” Nabizada said.
The group also discussed whether or not students should have a say in deciding which speakers are allowed on campus.
“I want to mention just how ludicrous and extremely self contradictory their argument on the grounds of free speech is to me, because they are a multi-million dollar organization being booed off one campus. They have dozens of other campuses they can go to,” the history junior said.
The history junior also said as a student who pays to attend SJSU, he does not want that money to be used to support these kinds of events.
The junior said it's fully within the rights of students to say they do not want certain people on campus.
Although this debate raised controversy for the students of SJSU, those who spoke out during the debate all said that there should be certain restrictions implemented in order to protect the campus and overall student safety.
