The College Democrats of the University of Utah held a protest on Sept. 16, outside the Marriott Library in response to an ongoing controversy regarding the alleged doxxing of Sara Larsen and members of the U’s Democrat and Republican student organizations.
During the protest, College Republicans President Daylan Alzamora called back to the original “Happy Kirkiversary” cake by presenting College Democrats (CDUU) protesters a new cake that read “Don’t celebrate murder.” As online discourse continued, it gained the attention of Turning Point USA members and politicians including Senator Mike Lee and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Doxxing controversy begins
The controversy began after Larsen approached the College Republicans table with a cake decorated with the words “Happy Kirkiversary” on Sept. 10. College Republicans member Rylie Barnes took a photo of Larsen posing with the cake and posted the photo to her X account. The post went viral, reaching over 6.4 million views. Larsen did not respond to The Chronicle’s request for comment.
Shortly after, CDUU responded with an official statement on Instagram denouncing the message on the cake and calling it “distasteful.” The organization argued that the images Barnes had posted had the intention of “public shaming.” Their statement also said that upon request, Barnes did not delete the post “even after acknowledging the extreme doxxing and harassment was taking place.”
Utah Federation of College Republicans Chair Riley Beesley told The Chronicle that College Republicans were “never involved in any doxxing nor harassment.”
CDUU and the College Republicans went back and forth on social media. Then, Alzamora responded to the CDUU’s Instagram statement. “Conservative students seeking to attend the University of Utah must understand their viewpoints will not be tolerated by much of the student body,” he wrote to The Chronicle. “They will be threatened, mocked and in this instance, baked a cake.”
CDUU President Tyson Guymon made a statement to The Chronicle in response to Alzamora. “Although the student’s message was reprehensible, no student deserves to be doxxed and face the level of harassment they are facing,” he wrote.
On Sept. 13 the CDUU announced a protest at the Marriott Library on its Instagram. The post read, “EMERGENCY– sign the petition,” and “FIGHT AGAINST THE U OF U REPUBLICANS!” On Sept. 16 CDUU member Ian Jacobson confirmed that the club’s Instagram was hacked and deactivated.
Protesting and petitioning
CDUU’s Instagram post listed three demands: “Condemnation from the University of Utah regarding the actions that put the student and her family at risk; Condemnation from the ASUU and recognition of the seriousness of what occurred; The suspension of the College Republicans recognized student organization status on campus.”
In an interview with The Chronicle, Lili Nilsson said she organized the demonstration after she saw students’ personal information being shared online.
Nilsson emphasized that the protest targeted the university’s response rather than the College Republicans or any individual student. “This protest was not directed toward any organization or individual except for the University of Utah,” Nilsson said. “We are asking the University of Utah to take action, to abide by their student code and to show that they support students and they want students to feel safe.”
However, during a follow-up interview with The Chronicle, Barnes said she felt the creator of the petition was intentionally targeting her, not the university. Screenshots Barnes posted on X show that the Change.org petition was originally titled “Stop Rylie Barnes” and featured Barnes’ photograph.
The petition was posted on a shared Instagram story for U students and encouraged viewers to sign it so she could be “held accountable for her actions.” The Chronicle reached out to the petition’s organizer, but they declined to comment on the matter. The petition’s title was later changed to “Stop the College of Republicans.”
Competing views on campus safety
Barnes said the organization intended to condemn political violence and draw attention to a student’s comments celebrating another person’s death. Although Barnes acknowledged that the comments were protected speech, she said that did not make them acceptable. “[Larsen] had that freedom of speech to do that, but that doesn’t mean that it’s OK at the end of the day,” Barnes said. “I have the right to highlight what she did on campus.”
Barnes also said the College Republicans initially believed the conflict could move forward after Larsen issued a public apology. However, she said the student’s alleged involvement with the protest made her question whether the apology was sincere.
On Sept. 14 the university issued a statement about the dispute. According to the statement, the university is aware of the allegations of “harassment, threats, and the inappropriate sharing or amplification of personal information,” and is “reviewing these accusations consistent with established policies, due process and applicable law.”
University considers repercussions
Turning Point Action COO Tyler Bowyer reposted Beesley’s X post that included a screenshot of an email he received from the U’s Office of the Dean of Students. The email was a request to meet with him to discuss a potential violation of the “policy on Student Rights and Responsibilities.” Though the email didn’t explicitly say he would be expelled, Beesley claimed that was what the university wanted.
In an interview with The Chronicle, Barnes said TPUSA also offered her legal counsel for her case with the university. “We actually had the amazing Nick Sorter. He was reposting and commenting on our posts and offering to help us,” she said. “He helped us reach different teams and TPUSA found out what was happening and they reached out and it was like, ‘hey, we want to give you these lawyers and we’re going to pay for it.’”
On Sept. 16 the U’s Dean of Students Jason Ramirez followed up with Barnes about her case. Barnes posted a screenshot of that email in which Ramirez wrote, “I do not believe there are grounds to charge you for a violation of University policy. What this means is that I will be formally dismissing the case against you and ensuring there is no record in your University file.” Her post garnered over 1.5 million views.
On Sept. 17 the U issued another statement about Barnes and Beesley’s accountability inquiries. According to the statement, the inquiry was dismissed “after receiving clarification from Riley Beesley’s representative.” It also clarified that neither Barnes or Beesley were expelled for their social media posts.
Editor’s note: One of the people involved in this story is a contributor at The Daily Utah Chronicle. They had no role in the coverage or editing of this story, and their role at The Chronicle did not affect this reporting in any way, shape or form. The decision not to disclose this information was made by the editorial team and the editor-in-chief after they declined to comment. They have been suspended from their role at The Chronicle for the time being.