Turning Point USA, Mercer College Republicans and about 200 students gathered on Cruz Plaza Monday evening to "pray for college campuses" in the wake of last week's assassination of Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of TPUSA. Kirk, whose online presence brought politics to young people around the country, was a right-wing activist who frequented college campuses to discuss political and social issues.
Scripture and prayers were read to the crowd, which included Craig McMahan, the university's minister. The event was heavily faith-oriented, Emily Benelli '26 explained after the event, because "a big part of Charlie's message was bringing people to Christ."
Benelli told the crowd early on, partially quoting Romans 12:19-21, "Vengeance and justice are in your hands, not mine, and even when our human systems get it wrong, still your eternal judgement will be right." Similar sentiments were shared throughout the evening, and multiple moments of silence were led.
State Rep. David Clark, R-Buford, told the Mercer students not to be angry, but rather to have "a fire in your soul" in response to Kirk's assassination.
"The other side, they do have a lot of hate, it's just true," Clark, who last month announced he is running for lieutenant governor of Georgia, said. "When you have that, it's not having a purpose, the vision of knowing that you've been created in the image of God and that God loves you."
Georgia state Rep. David Clark, R-Buford, spoke to the roughly 200 students gathered on Monday night to "pray for college campuses."
Harris Wallace '27, president of Mercer's Young Democrats student organization, condemned "all acts of political violence" in a statement to The Cluster Monday night.
"Partisan disagreement should never stand in the way of uniting against political violence," Wallace wrote. "Mercer must be a place where all students feel safe to express their opinions in a respectful civic dialogue."
Hosting the event inside was a decision that Jackson Blakley '26 considered at first, he said, because of safety concerns and potential "hostilities." Ultimately, Blakley said that TPUSA decided to hold the event outside because that was Kirk's preferred method of communicating with his disciples – and detractors.
Over the noise of Silksong, a video game they brought to Cruz Plaza, Sky Gryzbowski '26 said that "it's kind of funny that they're focusing on this faith aspect." Gryzbowski questioned why there had not been similar reactions on campus to other shootings around the country, suggesting that there was "a little bit of 'performativity'" in the group's response. Other students attempted to disrupt the event's speakers by loudly laughing and using noise makers, but there was little effect.
Much of the crowd was made up of members of Mercer fraternities and sororities because Benelli pushed the event to them while also posting a graphic for the event on Yik Yak, she said. Included was the president of the Kappa Alpha Order, William Smith '26, and members of Alpha Tau Omega.
"I knew that Mercer had a pretty liberal student body, and it was super duper reassuring that we were able to get so many people out here tonight," Benelli said. "I'm also really proud of the fraternities for getting so much support out here tonight."
While Kirk had never been to Mercer, the university's chapter of TPUSA jointly hosted a lecture in April 2024 with Mercer's Center for Economics and Liberty in which a Mercer student was arrested. Kirk reposted a video of the protest to the millions of followers he had on his social media.
Gabriel Kopp '26 is double majoring in Journalism and Law and Public Policy at Mercer University. He has written for The Cluster since he started at Mercer, and currently works as Editor-in-Chief. When he isn't working on a Washington Post crossword, he enjoys going for runs around Macon and reading The New York Times or the AJC while sipping coffee.
