Oklahoma State University refuses to comment on whether action will be taken in response to an administrator who reprimanded a student leader who gave a Charlie Kirk tribute. The administrator can be heard in an audio recording telling the student this year “is going to be difficult for you” after he gave a speech honoring the assassinated Turning Point USA founder.
Oklahoma State student leader Josh Wilson was reprimanded by the school’s coordinator of student-government programs, Melisa Echols, who claimed that students could be “triggered” over his speech honoring assassinated Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, according to a report by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs (OCPA).
While berating the student, Echols reportedly cited Wilson’s Turning Point USA hat, which was given to him by Kirk when the TPUSA founder visited Oklahoma State in April.
Echols claimed that wearing the hat made Wilson’s speech honoring Kirk a partisan event that violated student-government rules, and told the student he should talk to “people that don’t look like you” despite Wilson himself being a member of a racial minority.
The Oklahoma State administrator further warned Wilson — who is involved in the university’s student government and the debate society — that this year “is going to be difficult for you” if he refused to go along with her narrative.
For context, Wilson had taken a moment to address his peers at a September 10 student-government meeting — the same day Kirk was assassinated while trying to have an open and respectful conversation with a student at Utah Valley University — to tell them to remember that “true progress begins with dialogue.”
Wilson went on to call the Turning Point USA founder “a father, a husband, a devout Christian, and a shining light for so many,” added that Kirk was able to “provoke discussion and dialogue among countless students on this campus.”
“He lived with the hope that debate could spark conversation in a country that, for too many years, had lost that ability,” Wilson said. “May we carry forward his legacy by refusing to shy away from difficult conversations, by standing firm in our convictions, and by remembering that true progress begins with dialogue.”
While the student leader’s September 10 speech did not contain any references to President Donald Trump — nor did it call for support of a political party — Echols suggested Wilson’s remarks had violated the school’s non-partisan policies due to his TPUSA hat, which displayed the number “47.”
“As a person who doesn’t look like you and has not had the same lived experience as you, I have family who don’t look like you who are triggered — and I will be very candid with you — who are triggered by those hats and by that side,” Echols reportedly told Wilson.
Echols went on to suggest that the political views one holds are a product of their racial identity, adding, “I would challenge you to ask others who don’t look like you.”
The administrator also told Wilson to “have open conversations with anyone that has a different lived experience and see what, if anything, that might do for someone else, aside from someone who is politically aligned the same as you.”
“Ask yourself: Have you had those levels of discourse with people that don’t look like you, have not had the same lived experiences as you?” Echols said. “And what does — or did, and even do — wearing something like that or even saying something like that, how did that impact them?”
Wilson pushed back on Echols’ claims, noting, “Any student in general should have the liberty and not show any fear of expressing their thoughts and ideas.”
“And that’s what I wholeheartedly believe as the president of the Debate Club and as an individual is that idea and conversation is what built this country, and it’s what should maintain it. And that’s what the hat was there for,” he added.
Wilson further told Echols that while he understood her argument, he did not agree that wearing a Turning Point USA hat was partisan, given the context, and he rejected the notion that the cap was harmful to other students.
Echols then reportedly became angry with Wilson, declaring, “‘But’ cannot be the end of every statement. That’s not a learned lesson.”
“It cannot just be, ‘yes, but’ — cannot be every response that you give me. Otherwise, this year is going to be difficult for you,” Echols added.
Audio of the conversation was then posted to social media, where it went viral.
Listen Below:
“According to TPUSA, the staff member who reprimanded a student for honoring Charlie has been placed on administrative leave,” the popular X account Libs of TikTok said, to which Turning Point USA spokesman and executive producer of The Charlie Kirk Show Andrew Kolvet replied, “Facts.”
An Oklahoma State University spokesperson, however, refused to confirm any details regarding potential personnel actions, and instead, provided Breitbart News with the following statement:
Freedom of speech is an absolute right. Every OSU student has the constitutional right to speak their mind, express their views, and wear what they choose without fear of reprimand, restriction, or retribution. This is not negotiable, and it will not be compromised.
If any student believes their right to free expression has been infringed upon, threatened or restricted in any way, we encourage them to share those concerns directly with Student Affairs Division leadership and/or university leadership.
Our students’ voices matter and their rights will be protected. We expect every student to be afforded the opportunity to participate fully in our democratic student government without restriction or intimidation and have directly addressed those expectations with SGA support staff.
Wilson, who said he viewed Echols’ comment as “a veiled threat,” told Fox News, “It seems like the entire thing was meant to make me be very scared or kind of shut down from expressing these views, but in fact it’s done quite the opposite.”
“I’m not backing down,” he added. “Ronald Reagan said that freedom is just one generation away from extinction — so if we don’t stand up for our rights, nobody will. And I think that Oklahomans, like myself and others, aren’t going to back down — we’re just going to make our voices more heard.”
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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