Elon Musk intensified his criticism of higher education in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s fatal shooting at Utah Valley University, amplifying posts on X that alleged the suspected gunman had been “radicalized” by college culture. On September 10, 2025, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University during a Turning Point USA event. The killing triggered widespread political turmoil, outrage, and a manhunt, resulting in the arrest of shooting suspect Tyler Robinson, a 22-year-old from Utah.
Robinson was detained by authorities on Thursday after the FBI released photos and video of the suspect. At a press conference, Utah Governor Spencer Cox confirmed that inscriptions on bullet casings found at the scene included anti-fascist ideology and declined to comment on other markings that seemed to reference video game and online slang.
Tesla founder and CEO and billionaire Elon Musk weighed in on X, the social media platform he owns, to sharply condemn portions of the political left. Musk accused left‐leaning individuals and networks of celebrating Kirk’s death and called the left “the party of murder.” He also suggested that a culture that shamelessly celebrates or condones such violence is intertwined with ideological leanings fostered inside higher education—essentially blaming a kind of politicized academic environment for helping produce someone capable of political violence.
The forces that turned him into a cold-blooded murderer need to be stopped
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 12, 2025
Many on the political right—Musk included—have pointed to social media posts in which some left-leaning users appeared to mock or celebrate Kirk’s death. Musk directly condemned the posts that appeared to celebrate Kirk’s shooting, in one case clarifying a false claim that a Tesla employee had made one such mocking comment. On Thursday, DC Comics canceled a forthcoming comic book called the Red Hood after its writer Gretchen Felker-Martin posted commentary on Bluesky about Kirk’s death. Felker-Martin, who is transgender, told The Comics Journal that she had “no regrets” and noted that Kirk had a history himself of inciting violence against the queer community.
Robinson, who was turned in by his father through a minister who was also a family friend, had recently said that Kirk was “full of hate,” Cox told reporters in his briefing.
Challenges for youth and higher education
Much of Musk’s framing leans on a tenuous claim that universities and campus environments contribute to ideological radicalization. Political violence on the right is also a feature of American life, as seen in the attempted coup on the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. Shootings of political figures on both sides of the aisle include Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords being shot in Arizona in 2011 and Republican Rep. Steve Scalise getting shot in Virginia in 2017. Neither died, although Giffords has a permanent disability as a result.
Media outlets and analysts have cautioned against jumping to conclusions about motive or political affiliation in the case of Kirk’s death. However, the growing social media discussion suggests a broader disillusionment among young people.
Fortune reported in January that a substantial share of young people believe violence may be an acceptable form of change under certain circumstances. This reflects a broader cultural trend of dissatisfaction and radicalization among young people. On the other side of the world this week, Nepal is being shaken by violent demonstrations by self-described “Gen Z protesters” in reaction to a sudden decision by the government of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to ban Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms. Bloomberg Opinion’s Howard Chua-Eoan wrote that some 25% of the world’s population, roughly 2 billion of the world’s 8 billion people, are Gen Z and they are “disenfranchised in great numbers.”
At the same time, leaders within higher education have acknowledged the sector’s challenges. In an April 2025 commentary article for Fortune, a group of former college and university presidents urged institutions to resist demands for ideological purity and instead safeguard academic freedom, warning that bending to political orthodoxy risks deepening the very divisions that critics highlight.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
