‘My first emotion was fear’: Georgetown students react to flyers celebrating Charlie Kirk’s murder

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Georgetown University students who spoke to Fox News Digital said they were afraid and disappointed when they saw flyers posted on campus Wednesday by a far-left group that approvingly referenced the killer of Charlie Kirk.

“My first emotion was fear,” Jordan Van Slingerland, a senior international politics major, said on Thursday. “What happened to Charlie Kirk hit myself and, of course, many of my friends on this campus very hard, and seeing the text that was on the bullet of the assassin that had taken his life, certainly, was a bit scary.”

While one student told Fox News Digital that the flyers were only posted for about 30 minutes on Wednesday before they were taken down, several more flyers were posted on campus the following night, including a photo of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated three weeks ago, with the slogans: “Follow your leader” and “Rest in p-ss Charlie.” Video obtained by Fox News Digital showed a Georgetown University police officer removing the flyers Thursday. 

“It made me feel very upset,” Elizabeth Oliver, a Georgetown senior and president of the university’s “Right to Life” group, told Fox News Digital in an interview. “Over the years, I’ve heard many hateful things against conservatives, and this was so blatant and in people’s faces that it made me very worried for my other friends who share my similar beliefs.”

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The flyer was posted by the John Brown Gun Club, whom the Center for Counter Extremism has labeled a “far-left group.” They contained the phrase, “Hey fascist! Catch!” – an apparent nod to the slogan authorities say was etched in a shell casing found near the bolt-action rifle allegedly used to assassinate Kirk at Utah Valley University.

The group is named for militant slave abolitionist John Brown and the flyer also referred to their organization as “the only political group that celebrates when Nazis die” on the flyers. 

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Matthew Cosenza, a Georgetown freshman, said the flyer caught his eye when it went viral on X on Wednesday. 

“I really wasn’t that surprised to see material like that on campus,” Cosenza said. “I’ve seen other material that likens Trump to Hitler, the conservatives to fascists and the conservative movement on campus to Nazism.”

Senior Rowan O’Sullivan also was not surprised.

“Certainly, it’s out-of-control,” O’Sullivan said. “But I think it’s pretty obvious that whatever version of leftism, whatever you want to call this is, I think is, to some degree, window dressing for bloodlust at the end of it, and you saw that with the reactions to Charlie Kirk’s death.”

As the director of Campus Affairs for Georgetown’s College Republicans chapter and a board member for conservative groups on campus, Van Slingerland said he has been threatened with political violence since President Donald Trump was elected. 

“The climate has certainly been very hostile here for conservative students since then,” Van Slingerland said. 

After Shae McInnis, a sophomore at Georgetown University and treasurer of the school’s College Republicans club, spoke to Fox News Digital, O’Sullivan said he “has been identified by these left-wing groups on anonymous campus messaging platforms,” and students “have been spreading lies and fabrications about him.”

“I’ve heard from many people that they don’t want to get involved in groups like debate societies,” Oliver said. “This anonymous attacking from people, where you don’t know where it’s coming from, is very scary. So many people are deterred from even sharing their beliefs in classrooms.”

Georgetown released a statement on Thursday affirming the campus has “no tolerance for calls for violence or threats to the university.”

“The flyers have been removed, and the university is investigating this incident and working to ensure the safety of our community,” Georgetown University said. 

But students said the administration could do more to deter this type of violent rhetoric. 

“I would love to see the university distinguish itself from other elite universities in the United States, which have all completely succumbed to leftism and have rotted from the inside out,” O’Sullivan said. 

While defending the right to free speech, O’Sullivan argued that Georgetown is a private institution, and “if the school had any spine, they would absolutely condemn it and come down hard, and not just send us an email.”

Two students who spoke to Fox News Digital said they were concerned the Trump administration would cut their federal funding in response to the flyer. 

Cash Moore, a Georgetown sophomore and a member of the College Democrats club, said that when he first saw the poster in a group chat, he felt “disappointment” that some students view violence as acceptable.

“The first thing I thought was a little disappointment that some people, perhaps on this campus, hold that violence is something that is productive in society,” Moore said.

However, he said he is concerned that the Trump administration’s attention to the flyer could put a “target” on the university.”

Education Secretary Linda McMahon posted a statement on Wednesday condemning the “appalling posters” and urging the university to “determine what it stands for as an institution.”

“ED officials have spoken to Georgetown administrators, who made the decision to remove the flyers. Campus police are investigating the incident and will deploy resources to protect students as necessary. Allowing violent rhetoric to fester on our nation’s campuses without consequences is dangerous. It must be condemned by institutional leaders,” McMahon said. 

“I think one of the things I am worried about is, is Trump going to target us next?” Moore asked. 

When reached for comment regarding the students’ fears of retaliation, White House spokesperson Liz Huston told Fox News Digital, “This despicable act at Georgetown underscores just how mainstream political violence has become on the left and why Charlie Kirk’s work on college campuses was so important.”

“Through debate, Charlie taught students how to think critically and engage across differences. Americans should continue to live by the same principles as Charlie – speaking the truth, fostering real dialogue, and loving your country,” the White House added. 

Referencing Trump’s speech at Kirk’s memorial on Sunday when he said, “I hate my opponents,” Moore told Fox News Digital that it’s “valid for the left to also feel afraid.”

Moore said he has only seen the left take steps to condemn the violence and that “a lot of the escalation is coming from the right, not just a few crazy people putting up posters on the left.”

“We do have a free speech right on this campus, and I think that’s something a lot of us value and, obviously, a call to violence isn’t something that should take place, but there also is that free speech aspect that’s important to acknowledge,” he said.

Max Wolff-Merovick, a sophomore and a member of the school’s largest debating society, said he believes the flyers were put up by “a small group of students” in an attempt to spark outrage rather than to promote a student club.

“It’s unequivocally bad to be emulating the rhetoric of a political assassin,” Wolff-Merovick said. “That’s not something that anyone should be doing. But it also struck me as something that was more intended to provoke outrage on purpose rather than a serious attempt at creating a student organization as it’s been characterized by a number of different people.”

Wolff-Merovick said that “this does not represent the student body” at the school.

“Certainly I feel for it, but I think, at the same time, we need to be grounded in reality and know that this does not represent the student body at Georgetown as a whole, much less the left in general,” he said.

Wolff-Merovick said both sides “could do a better job at universally calling to turn the temperature down.”

Jonathan Rothschild, a student at Georgetown University, said free speech should remain protected, but political violence “should not be glorified.”

“If it is not a direct call to violence, I think the Georgetown University administration, to protect free speech, should leave it up, even though I personally find it abhorrent,” Rothschild said, adding that most students on campus oppose political violence.

“I think everyone with common sense should be against political violence,” he said.

Georgetown University did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. 

Fox News Digital’s Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report.