Town Board Meeting 9.23.25

One Republican state lawmaker in Oklahoma now wants to require every public university in the state to erect statues to slain far-right activist Charlie Kirk.

On Friday, Jeffrey Sachs — an assistant professor at Nova Scotia's Acadia University — called attention to a bill by Oklahoma state senators Shane Jett (R) and Dana Prieto (R) that would mandate every public university in the Sooner State build a "Charlie Kirk Memorial Plaza." The bill, which has been filed as Senate Bill 1187 and does not yet have a formal name, would force universities to set aside a portion of real estate in a visible public location — like the quad, the student union or main entrance pathways — "to maximize public awareness and utilization."

Senate Bill 1187 would also make it a requirement for schools to erect a statue of both Kirk and his family, and to include a plaque honoring Kirk as "a voice of a generation, modern civil rights leader, vocal Christian, martyr for truth and faith, and free speech advocate."

"Square or plaza plans shall include a statue of Charlie Kirk sitting at a table with an empty seat across from him or a statue of Charlie Kirk and his wife standing and holding their children in their arms as a central element of the square or plaza design. The statue design and size shall be approved by the Legislature as part of the overall design review and approval process," the bill reads.

Universities would be authorized to accept donations to fund the cost of the monuments "from the National Endowment for the Arts and any private, corporate, or public source to fund the development, maintenance, and enhancement of the squares or plazas and any associated statues." It also stipulated that the state legislature may appropriate tax dollars as a "donation matching funds" as a way of showing "broad-based support for the squares or plazas."

Additionally, the bill makes it clear that any "student, employee or faculty member" who vandalizes or defaces statues of Kirk on their campuses could face steep punishment, including immediate termination of their enrollment or employment. And the legislation even includes an emergency declaration it deems "necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health or safety," in order to immediately have the legislation go into effect.

In July, WalletHub found Oklahoma ranked 50th out of 51 states (when including Washington D.C.) in public education. Only New Mexico ranked further behind the Sooner State. Criteria used to determine rankings included "test scores, graduation rates, school safety and bullying rates."

Longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon raged over what he said was Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's massive blunder during the administration's announcement of controversial changes to the H-1B visa program, the system of work permits for high-skilled workers commonly used by the tech industry.

According to The Daily Beast, Bannon saw it as particularly infuriating that Lutnick incorrectly said that the new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas will be an annual charge, forcing other administration officials to come out and clarify it's in fact a one-time fee.

“These are not tiny details in the document,” said Bannon on his "War Room" program. “These are not in the footnotes. This is the deal. You’re supposed to be a deal guy. You’ve got to understand your own deal that you put before the president.” He added that, “All I’m saying is the Secretary Commerce sat up there and gave not just erroneous information, but patently false information. During the show, in a hot take, I can sit and go, ‘that makes no sense,’ because, if that’s true, then, hey, we kind of won—the whole program, just shut the program down.”

Bannon, who has previously called Lutnick an "unmitigated disaster" and urged Trump to pull him off of TV, has previously called for the H-1B program to be eliminated entirely — but he is on board with the Trump administration's change to make it far more expensive.

The H-1B announcement has sent tech companies scrambling, with some prominent CEOs like OpenAI's Sam Altman singing Trump's praises in what one observer theorized was a plea to give him input in minimizing the impact of the change.

Lutnick, who has been at the forefront of selling Trump's trade war, has been at the center of extensive drama behind the scenes at the White House, with reports saying he used Trump's housing finance administrator to try to dig up dirt on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whose job Lutnick had been initially angling for.