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PROVO, Utah — A year after Charlie Kirk was assassinated in the central courtyard at Utah Valley University, school officials will close campus for the day — as the school's new president revealed his own daughters were at the scene and vowed to continue to foster free speech in higher education.Dr.Jon Anderson, who joined UVU just before the start of the fall 2026 semester, was in his prior role as president of Pennsylvania Western University when Kirk was shot and killed on Sept.
10, 2025, but his family has roots in Utah, he told Fox News Digital in a sitdown interview.His wife called him to break the news, he said.JUDGE IN ACCUSED ASSASSIN TYLER ROBINSON'S CASE EXPLAINS WHY DEATH PENALTY REMAINS ON TABLE IN WRITTEN ORDERCharlie Kirk speaks at Utah Valley University on Sept.10, 2025 in Orem, Utah, shortly before his assassination.
(Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)"I had two daughters and a son-in-law, they were about 10 yards from the assassination when it happened," he said."And so I knew that our future would be tied to it in one way or the other.""When the opportunity came up to come home — this is the place that I'm from — and help this institution move forward and heal, it's something I leaned into immediately," he told Fox News Digital.
"I wanted to be here to help in any way that I could, and I have found since coming here, this place is so resilient.Its people are gritty, they're ready to move forward, and they're to learn from everything that we can learn from that day."ERIKA KIRK REFLECTS ON FIRST YEAR OF GRIEF AFTER CHARLIE KIRK'S ASSASSINATION IN NYT ESSAYUVU students pause to reflect as they gaze over the spot where Charlie Kirk was assassinated, Orem, Utah, Wednesday, Sept.
17, 2025.(Matthew Finn/Fox News)With students, faculty and other campus staff dealing with Kirk's assassination in their own ways, Anderson said the campus will be closed on Sept.
10, the one-year mark."I think one thing all of us at UVU have learned ...