In a move that absolutely no one will confuse with political theater, Texas lawmakers are holding their first big hearing on “campus speech” after some college kids made jokes online about Charlie Kirk’s killing. Because if there’s one thing state officials love more than freedom, it’s deciding how much of it you’re allowed to have.
Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking at a Utah college in September, and within 48 hours Texas leaders had already formed bipartisan “civil discourse” committees—which is sort of like creating a Fire Safety Council made entirely of men who smoke in bed. The committees are now gathering in Austin to talk about free speech, campus safety, and a brand-new law that gives the state even more power over what universities can teach and how they can operate.
One student at Texas State, Devion Canty Jr., briefly became the face of the outrage machine after a video of him mimicking Kirk’s shooting went viral. Gov. Abbott demanded he be expelled, Texas State delivered, and now lawmakers wanted him to testify—until social media suggested he fled Texas to avoid harassment. Apparently free speech is very important, unless the person exercising it might get hurt while explaining themselves.
Texas Tech and UNT also made the list of “campus controversies,” with one Tech student arrested for knocking a hat off someone’s head (a crime presumably punishable by death if it had been a cowboy hat). Meanwhile, Paxton is investigating UNT because some students allegedly celebrated Kirk’s death—finally, a use of taxpayer resources Texans can all rally behind: policing vibes.
All of this is happening while the state is simultaneously enforcing and defending new anti-protest rules that a federal judge already called probably unconstitutional. But don’t worry—the committee promises to review what “the Constitution says should be able to happen.” If only there were, say, centuries of settled law or actual First Amendment experts who could help with that.
Regulating free speech in the name of protecting free speech—what could be more Texas than that?
https://www.texastribune.org/2025/11/12/texas-college-free-speech-committee-charlie-kirk/
