OREM, UT – An outside review of Charlie Kirk’s assassination at Utah Valley University and the school’s security protocols is expected to begin in January and conclude before summer 2026.
The Orem university laid out the timeline in a request for proposals posted last month on its procurement website for contract vendors. UVU had announced in September that it was “initiating a comprehensive independent review with an external organization” but didn’t give a timeline or disclose the name of any firm.
A spokesperson did not immediately provide answers to questions from Utah News Dispatch Monday. The college of more than 46,000 students in Orem — the state’s largest — is accepting bids from would-be reviewers until Wednesday.
The development comes as the shooting of Kirk, a prominent conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, has also drawn new focus to security protocols and police resources on college campuses across the state.
While the university’s request for bids doesn’t explicitly mention Kirk or reference a shooting, it says the purpose of the probe is to analyze what happened before and after an incident on Sept. 10, “including contributing factors.” Evaluators will also scrutinize the university’s “security and emergency preparation and response actions and protocols” and make recommendations for improvement, according to the 22-page call for proposals.
Kirk was shot from a roof on campus while answering a student’s question in a courtyard, killing him. Security experts have said UVU seemed to miss important security steps such as monitoring rooftops and criticized the school for not staffing the event with more police officers.
UVU Police Chief Jeffrey Long said just after the shooting that six officers worked the event, in addition to Kirk’s private security team of eight.
The university announced last month it was in the process of hiring eight new campus police officers and two new safety managers to its existing force of 23 officers.
The coming review is set to begin in the first week of January and end sometime in late spring 2026, and will include a report prepared for the public. Evaluators are expected to conduct interviews with university leaders, law enforcement, emergency management workers, employees and students, the document says.
They’re also tasked with looking over video, emergency plans, training records, incident logs and other relevant records that will help them piece together a timeline “and identify key decision points.”
Also under the microscope is the university’s coordination with outside agencies like local law enforcement and emergency services. The Utah County Sheriff’s Office has said it was not involved that day until the shooting happened.
Reflecting on campus safety throughout the state, Gov. Spencer Cox told reporters last week that “we want to make sure we have the funding necessary to keep our kids safe on campus.”
Asked whether he’d push for the state to free up funds for public universities to expand police forces, Cox replied, “We’re having that conversation with the department of public safety and all of our colleges and universities. We want our students to be safe. I’ve got kids on college campuses right now. It’s important to all of us.”
He noted UVU is the state’s largest university in terms of student enrollment, but said its campus is more compact than most, saying that’s a factor in the size of its police force.
A newly formed state task force on higher education and public safety includes officials from Utah universities, law enforcement agencies and private businesses.
Its members are set to convene for their first meeting on Dec. 8, Katie Mazzie with the Utah System of Higher Education told lawmakers on a school safety panel at the Capitol Monday.
The task force plans to start by evaluating policies across Utah’s public colleges, Mazzie said, with the eventual goal of standardizing practices to make campuses safer.
This story first appeared on Utah News Dispatch.
