President of Utah university where Charlie Kirk was killed to resign from role | Utah
Utah Valley University’s seventh president, Astrid Tuminez, will resign at the end of the term. He announced his decision during a meeting on Wednesday. Status of the University address, speaking to a large audience of students and faculty.
Tuminez, 61, said in an interview that the decision to resign had been in the making for some time. “There can never be a good time,” he said. “I love UVU.” He explained that this choice came with a mixture of pain and relief. “It’s a whirlwind of emotions. On the one hand, I’m heartbroken, but on the other hand, I’m happy and excited because life has its own rhythms.
“I cried a lot last night, I’m not crying today” Tuminez saidAs he told the crowd he planned to leave office in early May.
The decision comes after a year of personal grief and institutional crisis. Her husband, Jeffrey Tolk, died suddenly in February 2025. “I’m heartbroken. There’s no other way to describe it,” Tuminez told the Guardian. In a later interview, he said the loss left him “disconsolate and desolate”.
Months later, on September 10, 2025, which would have been her husband’s birthday, Tuminez was traveling to Rome on a planned spiritual pilgrimage when news broke that Charlie Kirk, a 31-year-old far-right commentator and founder of Turning Point USA, had been murdered. was assassinated on campus.
“Our bodies feel these things,” Tuminez later told the Guardian. “I was in complete shock, it was like my whole body was on fire.”
The murder thrust Tuminez and the university into the center of a national political crisis. Political violence intensified in the USA and Trump administration increased pressure through campus speech at universities.
Utah Valley University is still dealing with the aftermath of Kirk’s death. Many faculties, students and government officials divided On how to remember Kirk Republican leaders and university officials pushes to commemorate him, while others warn against politicization campus tragedy.
Tuminez, who became president in 2018, was the first woman, first person of color and first immigrant to lead Utah Valley University, located in one of Utah’s most conservative counties. He described his rise to the role with characteristic understatement. “I am an accidental university president,” he said. “I never planned on this. It wasn’t even on the list.”
A scholar trained in Soviet politics, Tuminez has worked in academia, government, and international institutions; this experience shaped his approach to leading the university during an increasingly polarized national period. He argued that universities remain central to the American project, describing them as “facilitators of the American dream” and saying they should prepare their students to deal seriously with issues of civil discourse.
His nearly eight-year tenure as president, one of the longest tenures in Utah’s public university system, was marked by significant growth and institutional change. During his time in office, Registrations increased by more than 20 percent University’s endowment more than doubles From $55 million to $129 million, graduation rates have risen sharplyFundraising activities were expanded and new centers were established in applied artificial intelligence, fintech and constitutional studies.
His departure comes as universities around the world US faces increasing political pressure from the Trump administration, including increased immigration enforcement. deportation of many studentsVisa restrictions affecting dozens of countries and Growing fears among international students. Tuminez, himself a former international student, said he remains concerned about what a more closed United States could mean for higher education.
“One of America’s superpowers is our global influence,” he said. “We train people who go back to their own countries and lead.” He said UVU hopes to expand its international student population, arguing that openness benefits both local students and those from abroad. “I had to get my own F-1 visa,” he added. “It was very, very difficult. I think it’s a good thing for Utahns, and it’s also good for these students to have that experience, to get an education here.”
He framed the moment as a political shift rather than sound policy, suggesting that decisions driven by fear or politics run the risk of long-term harm. Tuminez said he worries that fear among international students and a more closed attitude toward immigrants could erode one of the United States’ defining strengths: its openness to the world. When asked about his next chapter, Tuminez was clear on one thing: he plans to take a break. “I need a break,” he said. “This is not a job that you can do for seven and a half years and feel refreshed.”
