A lightning bolt struck a tree just a few feet from left-wing demonstrators protesting conservative speaker Erika Kirks commencement address at Hillsdale College on Saturday, startling activists who had gathered to denounce the schools ties to mainstream right-of-center causes.
Hillsdale history professor Bradley J. Birzer, who was near the scene, highlighted the incident in a post on X, writing, Lightning hit this tree during the anti Erika Kirk protest. No joke. Just feet from the protesters. According to the Daily Caller, conservative commentator Josiah Lippincott referenced the late Turning Point USA leader in his own X post, remarking, Yeah, Charlie is keeping an eye out for us, a comment many on the right saw as a pointed reminder that faith and providence still matter in public life.
More than three dozen activists assembled outside the Hillsdale County Courthouse hours before the ceremony, with participants traveling in from Macomb, Calhoun, Monroe and Branch counties, the Hillsdale Daily News reported. The protesters targeted Hillsdales role in the 1776 Commission, its Barney Charter School Initiative and its support for school voucher programs, underscoring the lefts ongoing hostility to educational choice and patriotic civics.
The demonstration was organized by a group called Hope in Action, WILX reported. One participant, Allison Bader, who attended with her daughter Norah, condemned what she described as blatant racism, homophobia, and sexism allegedly associated with Turning Point USA and Project 2025, rhetoric that reflects the progressive tendency to smear conservative institutions rather than debate ideas.
Inside the commencement hall, the tone was markedly different as Erika Kirk urged Hillsdales roughly 400 graduates to emulate the character and convictions of her late husband, as reported by the New York Post. Through his learning, Charlie was better able to recognize his duty to pursue truth and to defend liberty, and this responsibility he felt to God. He felt it for our family, to our country, and that was born from what he learned, Kirk told the audience, emphasizing faith, duty and love of country over grievance politics.
Hillsdale President Larry Arnn closed the ceremony by awarding Kirk two honorary degrees of public service, the New York Post noted. The first honored her own work, while the second was bestowed posthumously on Charlie Kirk, fulfilling a promise Arnn made at the activists September memorial and underscoring the colleges willingness to stand unapologetically with conservative leaders even under intense left-wing criticism.
Charlie Kirk was killed in September when a gunman opened fire as he addressed students at Utah Valley University in Orem during a Turning Point USA event. Suspected shooter Tyler Robinson remains in custody awaiting trial, a stark reminder that while progressive activists rail against school choice and patriotic education outside, conservatives continue to face real threats for simply exercising their First Amendment rights.
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