The assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has not diminished the appetite of liberal students to stop speech they dislike by any means necessary, from shouting down speakers and blocking attendees to using violence, according to a new survey by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and College Pulse.

Yet 9 in 10 students overall still believe that "words can be violence," broken down by "completely" agreeing (22%), "mostly" agreeing (25%), "somewhat" (28%) and "slightly" (15%).

FIRE called the results from the survey of more than 2,000 undergraduates, between Oct. 3-31, "especially startling" so soon after Kirk's death Sept. 10. It oversampled students from Utah Valley University, where Kirk was killed, and broke out some UVU results separately.

"Moderate and conservative students across the country became significantly less likely to say that shouting down a speaker, blocking entry to an event, or using violence to stop a campus speech are acceptable actions," FIRE said. "In contrast, liberal students’ support for these tactics held steady, or even increased slightly."

The percentages of support for the three options of shoutdowns, blockages and violence all fell between spring and fall surveys, from 2 to 7 percentage points each, showing how liberals bucked the trend after Kirk's death, though FIRE didn't break out specific support by ideology.

Shoutdowns still command strong support across all students, however, at 68%. Blockages fell below a majority this fall, to 47%, and violence is still hovering around 1 in 3 students.

FIRE found one notable difference between spring and fall surveys on "attitudes toward controversial speakers among non-UVU students." 

Among the 6 "speaker scenarios" it showed students, only one showed a change of more than 3 percentage points in support or opposition to letting them speak on campus: "Children should be able to transition without parental consent." Opposition grew from 51% to 56% between surveys.