"I just didn't want people to feel scared to be on campus because I know that I'm scared to be on campus," Lopez said. "I don't really know how else I can help."

There were big bear hugs and outpourings of gratitude, but business at the free hugs couch was slow, if steady, as Utah Valley turned from a crime scene back to a working campus. Most students rushed past with little more than a glance, a nod to a truth about Utah Valley, and about the nation at large.

For many of the 3,000 or so people who packed into the campus courtyard to see Kirk, and for those at the university who center politics and faith in their daily routines, the tragedy may be a defining event in their lives. But with 46,000 students, Utah Valley is a small city of a school, and a lot of them Wednesday just seemed in a hurry to get back to class.

"I've never heard anyone be like actively political and starting things that don't need to be started," said James Jordan, 21, a student from Syracuse, Utah, who is in his second year studying business management. "I think everyone here gets along really well, because we're just all really busy."

Though often overshadowed by nearby Brigham Young University, or by its more urban neighbor the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah Valley is a unique academic experiment: a small welding college that grew into a community college, a commuter school, and now the largest university in the state. It is also the largest "dual-mission college" in the country, offering both bachelor's degrees and career-focused training and associate's degrees.

More than 80 percent of the student body works more than 31 hours a week at a paying job, and more than 40 percent are first-generation college students.

"It's not perfect by any means, but a lot of students choose UVU because of diversity, because they can come here and have their beliefs and their background and be whoever they are," said Lori Duke, a graduate of the school who is the program manager for the graduate marriage and family therapy department.

She was meeting with a prospective student in her office during Kirk's rally last week when panicked students rushed in seeking safety. Duke and about 15 students, including several high school visitors desperate to call their parents, sheltered in her office for 45 minutes.

"Our governor told us last week that this can be a watershed: We can either come together and choose the good, or we can let it tear us apart," Duke said, referring to Governor Spencer Cox, who made an impassioned plea after the assassination to move past political violence.

"I hate to call this a learning moment, but these students really are learning how to be adults," she continued. "For a lot of them, this is the first time in their life they've gotten to make adult choices. This is a big one to start with."

Adam Blanchard, 26, a junior studying aviation with dreams of becoming a commercial pilot, said he had been contemplating how he would continue to respond to Kirk's death. A competitive ballroom dancer, he plans to seek permission from the university to craft a performance for an upcoming show to honor Kirk and remember the shooting, a waltz, perhaps, set to "Amazing Grace."

"I think there are a lot of people at UVU who are a little quieter about their faith and their more conservative beliefs," he said. "I do believe that the Scriptures have a lot of prophecies about what would happen in the later days of the earth, and this lines up. That's not something I'd maybe have been as comfortable saying out loud to you a week ago."

Utah Valley has a large population of students who, like Blanchard, identify as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Still, the student population is more culturally diverse than nearby Brigham Young, which was founded by the church, and seemed a less obvious place for Kirk to kick off his American Comeback tour.

"When I heard that Charlie Kirk was coming to campus, it was the first time in a very long time that I was like, 'Oh, this could be pretty controversial, this could rile people up,'" said Joe Vogel, who teaches an interdisciplinary course on the 1980s at the university. "It just wasn't a very UVU thing to have a political speaker like that."

During a tour of campus with reporters Wednesday, the university's president, Astrid Tuminez, said her administration was conducting a security review to learn any pertinent lessons and assure students that they are safe and their school remains a welcoming environment.

A vigil is planned for Friday afternoon, and memorials have risen organically around campus, including chalk messages on walls and sidewalks and a growing collection of flags, photos, stuffed animals, handwritten notes, and Chicago Cubs paraphernalia, a nod to Kirk's chosen team.

After Kirk's death, students return to campus and learn 'how to be adults' - The Boston Globe