This Week
in Higher Ed

This week's must-read: A Bowdoin College student reported a three-word message as a threat to his life.

How a Student's Sarcastic Charlie Kirk Email Sparked a Free-Speech Dust-Up

By Katherine Mangan

The phone message from Bowdoin College security on September 14 caught Finley Rhys by surprise. He hadn’t expected the organizers of a Charlie Kirk vigil to be pleased with his flippant three-word email, but he hadn’t expected anyone to feel threatened by it, either.

“RIP to bro,” it read, followed by a sad-cat emoji.