UC Berkeley prepares for final Turning Point USA tour stop

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- UC Berkeley is preparing for a Turning Point USA event Monday at Zellerbach Hall. The university has designated the gathering as a "major event," triggering its official policy for heightened security.

Monday marks two months to the day that Charlie Kirk was killed at Utah Valley University. The event will be the campus tour's final stop.

"This event was supposed to be with Charlie Kirk, now it's in honor of Charlie Kirk," said John Paul Leon, president of Berkeley's Turning Point chapter.

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Leon has worked with Kirk many times over the years.

"It's changed dramatically, of course, since the assassination of Charlie Kirk," Leon said.

Originally planned outdoors, the event has been moved indoors to Zellerbach Hall, which seats 1,900.

UC Berkeley told ABC7 News that the campus relies on professional security assessments and recommendations provided by UCPD, so that events sponsored by student organizations can be held successfully and safely.

Under the university's major events policy, attendees will be searched. Turning Point USA is going further, as no bags will be allowed inside.

"There are plans for protesters, plans for every single avenue you can think of," Leon said.

Organizers expect protests, but many students on campus Friday declined to speak publicly, citing fears of doxxing after Kirk's death and an ongoing university investigation into campus demonstrations.

Berkeley law professor Jonathan Simon advised that the university should speak with potential counter-protestors prior to the event to be prepared.

"You need to be in dialogue well before the protests happen with the groups that are likely to be involved in it," Simon said. "They've got to take responsibility for how they're going to be organized and the university can support, can encourage, can make the police available to them to do advanced planning if they're going to be doing a march or things of that nature."

RELATED: Bay Area universities considering security for events following Charlie Kirk killing

Since a vigil for Kirk, Berkeley's Turning Point chapter says it has nearly doubled its membership from 30 to 60 at each weekly meeting.

"There are a lot of people who feel passionate about it, feel the need to do something, play the part," Leon said.

Leon anticipates a high turnout, though he suspects critics are reserving tickets in batches without plans to attend.

"Kind of a shame, sort of a response to silence us and make sure our event is least successful as possible," he said.

Leon said there could be some big names in attendance. It's unclear whether Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, would be in attendance.

"Whether or not she comes may or may not be a possibility. As far as I know, she probably won't be at the event," said Leon.

Sophomore Jackie Campion said she thinks Turning Point USA is an "unhealthy" ideology for young people, but because of the university's commitment to free speech, the group has a right to say what they want on campus. She added that she believes open communication is the only way to change minds.

RELATED: MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk sparks division during San Francisco State campus visit

Other critics deride Kirk's hardline, controversial stances on social issues. Kirk was often overtly racist and misogynistic, also speaking out against the LGBTQ+ community and migrants. He was frequently quoted as being concerned about "the great replacement theory" and saying women should submit to their husbands, according to an article from The Guardian.

"You heard that he was, like, this wonderful, like, Johnny Appleseed character that was coming to campuses and talking to students who had apparently never been talked to by people about difficult issues," law professor Simon said. "If you actually read about the kind of things he said, he was hardly somebody who sort of tried to build a big tent of any kind. He was extremely rejecting of whole groups of people."

At the University of Minnesota, which hosted the first event after Kirk's assassination, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported that several professors moved classes online. Some cited Turning Point USA's "professor watchlist," which seeks to "expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda," according to the group's website.

Several students said that while they aren't happy about the Turning Point USA event, they recognize Berkeley's commitment to free speech, which allows speakers like Turek and Schneider to come to campus.

Leela Mehta-Harwitz, coalitions chair for UC Berkeley's chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America, said the organization has no plans to protest, attend or otherwise engage with the Turning Point USA event. They made a distinction between the national organization and the campus chapter, saying that the former is extremely harmful and "inflammatory," and the latter is one they disagree with but see as "colleagues" on campus.

"We don't feel like it's worth our energy," Mehta-Harwitz said. "Turning Point USA is famous for clip farming. They're well-known for getting inflammatory clips that deliberately paint left-wing activists in a bad light. We're not interested in being fodder for their social media cycle and being misrepresented."

Tickets are free and the event is open to the public. Attendees do have to RSVP online.

Cal Matters contributed to this article.