Your Alma Mater just got a billboard for free
So here's the thing about Utah — we really like to make our opinions known, especially when it comes to free speech and, well, commencement speeches. Remember last week when UVU pulled Sharon McMahon from speaking at their graduation? Yeah, no, people here didn't let that one just quietly slide into the Great Salt Lake. Turns out, some folks really, really disagreed with the university's decision, and they've decided to make that disagreement visible, like, really visible.
### What This Means for Salt Lake City
It’s not every day you see billboards pop up around the valley because of a university commencement kerfuffle. This whole thing started after UVU, down in Orem, removed McMahon as their speaker due to backlash over comments she made about Charlie Kirk. For those not deep in the online political trenches, Kirk is a conservative commentator, and McMahon is known for her non-partisan approach to explaining government and current events. The billboards, funded by local residents, are a clear statement: people here care about who gets to speak and what that says about the institutions in our state. It’s got a lot of folks talking at places like Ruth's Diner up Emigration Canyon, and you know it's a topic when even the line at the State Liquor Store is buzzing about it.
* This isn't just about UVU; it reflects a broader conversation happening across the state about free speech, cancel culture, and what kind of dialogue we want to foster in our public spaces. * It shows that Utahns, when they feel strongly about something, are willing to put their money where their mouth is, or, in this case, on a billboard. * It’s a reminder that even in a place as seemingly homogenous as Salt Lake City can sometimes appear, there are deep and varied opinions bubbling just beneath the surface.
This isn’t just some distant political spat; it’s playing out on the roads you drive every day, a stone's throw from where many of these graduates live and work. It’s a very Salt Lake way of protesting, I guess. That's the Crossroads, friends — greatest snow on earth and the weirdest liquor laws, and sometimes, the most unexpected public displays of opinion.
The crew on the Morning Wire dives into stories like this every day — check 'em out live at mornings.live.