Charlie Kirk speech at ASU courts furor, though his remarks avoid controversy

Charlie Kirk, the conservative talk show host and founder of Turning Point USA, spoke at Gammage Auditorium on the campus of Arizona State University on Wednesday, an appearance that alarmed some faculty and surprised the man who conceived of the event.

Kirk, mingling with VIP guests before the event, declined to speak with The Arizona Republic.

On stage, he said he was surprised at the furor, saying that the event's title, "Health, Wealth and Happiness," shouldn't have offended anyone.

He said he was glad that he was still allowed to speak despite a letter signed by more than 30 faculty members of Barrett, The Honors College, the host of the event through its T.W. Lewis Center for Personal Development.

"Arizona State University deserves a lot of credit for allowing this event to continue," he said.

Kirk said he applauded the 10 Barrett faculty members who didn't sign the letter protesting his appearance. He said he was pleasantly surprised that many professors declined to sign.

Kirk was event attraction

The "Health, Wealth and Happiness" event was originally conceived by the personal finance author Robert Kiyosaki.

He provided the wealth part, inviting his doctor, Radha Gopalan, a cardiologist at Banner Health and the radio host Dennis Prager. Kiyosaki credited Prager with helping him be happy.

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Kirk was a later addition to the event. The poster produced by Barrett Honors College had his name in small print toward the bottom, under the photos of the other speakers.

Still, according to reaction at the VIP reception beforehand and the cheers during the introductions at the event, Kirk was the attraction for many attendees.

A person sitting front row center held up a sign as Kirk began to speak. The sign was intended to be read by the audience. It said: "Health, wealth, happiness includes queer people." From the stage, Kirk would only see a black square.

After a few minutes, security escorted the person out to cheers from the crowd, which filled about two-thirds of the lower floor of the iconic ASU theater.

Tickets to the show were free for students. Members of the public could pay $20 to $40 for seats. Or, for $250, VIPs could attend a pre-show reception that featured lamb meatballs and shrimp, as well as beer and wine.

On stage, Kirk's speech stuck to the themes of health and happiness, avoiding the bare-knuckle political talk he employs on his radio show.

He suggested the audience go a day with their phones off to improve happiness.

He said that if someone wasn't happy or successful, they could change their lot by adopting better life habits.

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"You are to blame for where you are," Kirk said.

Kirk said that society, and some institutions of higher learning, suggest that there was no absolute truth. But Kirk said there was truth in the world and, in a well-worn line, offered an example.

"There is a God and you are not Him," he said, in what was his most provocative statement of the night.

Kirk started Turning Point USA in 2012. The non-profit, ostensibly created to promote free market values to young people, has since grown to include political arms. Those groups, Turning Point PAC and Turning Point Action, heavily involved themselves in Republican politics in Arizona and other states in 2022. Those efforts mostly met with failure.

Some faculty object to appearance

Kirk's invitation rankled some faculty of Barrett, the Honors College, more than 30 of whom wrote a letter to the dean of the college.

The letter condemned the event and said it ran "contrary to the core values of the Barrett community."

The letter singled out Kirk and Prager, for particular ire. It called Kirk and Prager "purveyors of hate" for attacks on women, minorities and the LGBTQ community.

The letter noted that Kirk had cast doubt on the 2020 election and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Kirk had arranged, through Turning Point, to bus students to Washington D.C. that day for the speech by former President Donald Trump, though he has said none of the students marched to the Capitol.

The letter included a list of quotes by both Kirk and Prager that the faculty letter said were "bigoted and anti-democratic" positions. Many of the links came from Media Matters, a left-leaning group that monitors conservative media.

Kirk's quotes included him saying he didn't think Black History Month merited a whole month and that only married heterosexual couples should be able to adopt children. Both quotes, according to Media Matters, were from January.

The faculty members said that with the letter it hoped to "distance ourselves from the hate that these provocateurs hope to legitimate by attaching themselves to Barrett’s name."

The man who conceived of the evening, Kiyosaki, the "Rich Dad Poor Dad" author, said he had no idea how Kirk was invited, using a curse word for emphasis.

Kiyosaki told The Republic during an interview on Tuesday that the night grew out of a summer lecture series he gave to Barrett Honors College students.

That series, he said, was a behind-the-scenes look at his company and his views of capitalism.

He decided to create a panel that included two other people important to him. One was his cardiologist who he credits with his health. The other was Prager, who Kiyosaki said taught him the importance of happiness. Prager has written a book called "Happiness Is A Serious Problem: A Human Nature Repair Manual."

"And the next thing you know, I got a protest," Kiyosaki said.

ASU donor invited Kirk to event

Tom Lewis, the founder of the T.W. Lewis homebuilding company, in an interview with The Republic before the event Wednesday, said he was the person who invited Kirk to the event.

Lewis, through his T.W. Lewis Foundation, started the Lewis Center at the ASU honors college, where he had long funded scholarships with the aim of increasing the quality and quantity of its students.

Lewis said he was meeting with Kirk and told him about the event. "I told him they'd love to have him," he said, before correcting himself. "Well, I told him I would love to have him."

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Lewis said that his center's written agreement with the university specifically stated that the lecture series was intended to teach conservative principles.

"It's in writing," Lewis said in an interview before the event. "And it came with a pretty sizable gift."

The T.W. Lewis Foundation has given money to a host of charities through the years. But, over the last four years, according to archived web pages, has contributed to conservative causes, including Alliance Defending Freedom, the Museum of the Bible and Turning Point USA.

Lews said that about half of the people in Arizona and the country "believe in the things we're going to hear tonight," he said. "But, it's being suppressed."

Michael Ostling, a faculty member who signed the letter protesting the event, said that the event seemed to be promoted quietly. Most Barrett events, he said, are promoted through the college's social media channels and shared in notices to faculty.

The college had recently started promoting the event, Ostling said, making it seem anodyne.

But the promotion from those outside the university paint it as more antagonistic. "You get messages about the rebels of education," he said.

The Lewis Center's speaker events are usually in workshop settings for students only, he said.

"This is not a workshop. It's not small. It's not confined to Barrett students," Ostling said. "You're bringing extremely controversial people to campus."

Ostling said that most people who donate money to get their name attached to the outsides of buildings or centers don't typically meddle with what happens inside the classroom.

"Here, we have a more active donor that is attempting, and maybe succeeding, in dictating or having a strong influence in the sort of programming that the Lewis Center puts on," Ostling said.

Ostling said that faculty were not looking to stop the event at all. They just wondered how it came together and why the university felt it appropriate to invite someone to speak on campus who has written a book encouraging people to not go to college.

Ostling said he has seen online chatter calling faculty members Marxist, with claims that they were trying to cancel the event or silence the speakers.

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"We are not," he said. "We aren't trying to cancel the event."

Faculty from Barrett held a teach-in event that was set to end about an hour before the Gammage event.

Kiyosaki said, in the interview before the event, that he wasn't too familiar with Kirk's ideology.

"I hate to tell you this," Kiyosaki said Tuesday. "I've heard of Charlie Kirk but I don't know his politics. That's the honest to God truth."

Kiyosaki said he read the letter from the faculty that contained quotes from Kirk. But, he said, he thought those might have been taken out of context.

Kiyosaki said he's had his words unfairly used against him, noting he's still smarting from coverage he's thought unfair, including an article decades ago in The Republic.

Kiyosaki said he considered the issues surrounding the Gammage night a free speech issue. Students, he said, should be able to hear from any speakers they wish.

"I'm surprised it was such a hot issue for students," he said.

Republic reporter Richard Ruelas also works as an adjunct professor at ASU's journalism school.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Charlie Kirk speech at ASU draws protest from students, faculty