Charlie Kirk became inextricably intertwined with Arkansas in 2017 when then-undergraduate Ashlyn Hoggard (now Everette) had her free speech rights violated by an Arkansas public university as she set up an outdoor table to hand out literature to establish a chapter of Kirk's Turning Point USA.

That university--under previous leadership--told Ashlyn that to have free speech, she must register with school authorities, get five people to join her club before she tried to get people to join her club (huh?), write a constitution, and get a school adviser. So she turned to the federal courts, which ruled the university's actions unconstitutional.

That controversy led to the enactment of Arkansas' Forming Open and Robust University Minds (FORUM) Act in 2021, sponsored by then-state Sens. Bob Ballinger, Kim Hammer, Jason Rapert and then-state Reps. Dan Sullivan, Mary Bentley, and others, which increased free speech on university campuses. (BTW: There's still more to do!)

Shortly thereafter, Hoggard began her studies at my school, the University of Arkansas-Little Rock's William H. Bowen School of Law. She graduated last year and now practices in Batesville. We keep in touch.

Kirk's primary activity was simply advocating for free speech and exercising it. That notwithstanding, many leftists on social media have lost all rationality and reason when it comes to his assassination.

One Facebook warrior wrote: "It's interesting to see so many people rushing to call Charlie Kirk a 'legend' or a 'hero.' . . . His legacy wasn't built on compassion or truth, but rather on spreading hate and........

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