U.S. Air Force Academy graduates throw their hats in the air in celebration at the end of the Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colo., on May 30, 2007. The board of directors of the academy alumni association is considering agenda items Oct. 17, 2025, that propose to give slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk honorary membership and award him an honorary degree from the academy. (Cherie A. Thurlby/Department of Defense)

Slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk may soon be the newest honorary member of the U.S. Air Force Academy’s alumni group.

A proposal to bestow Kirk with honorary membership in the Association of Graduates is listed on the agenda for Friday’s meeting of the board of directors of the academy’s nonprofit and independent alumni organization.

A separate motion to award Kirk an honorary degree from the prestigious military institution in Colorado Springs is also mentioned, according to an online copy of the meeting agenda. The board is slated to vote on the items Friday afternoon.

The two items seeking to honor Kirk came from retired Lt. Gen. Rod Bishop, a 1974 USAFA graduate who was elected to the board of directors this year.

“I can’t think of anyone I have ever met that better exudes all of the qualities of a candidate that we as USAFA graduates would want to count among our numbers than Charlie,” Bishop said.

His statement was posted on the website of Unity Slate, a group of academy graduates who say they are trying to steer the institution away from “politically infused social engineering programs and politically charged ideological constructs.”

Honorary membership in the Association of Graduates is awarded to those who have “rendered outstanding and conspicuous service” to the Air Force or the academy, according to the alumni group.

President Donald Trump appointed Kirk in March to the academy’s board of visitors, an advisory group that meets several times a year to discuss curriculum, instruction, morale and discipline, among other issues. Kirk attended one meeting in August.

A founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10 while hosting an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. The 31-year-old Kirk never served in the military.

Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Marty France, an academy graduate, former board member and former head of the academy’s astronautics department, said that if all 16 directors are present, 13 votes are needed to bestow Kirk with honorary membership in the Association of Graduates.

Brig. Gen. Martin France poses in festive sunglasses during the U.S. Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs, Colorado on May 23, 2018. Now retired from the military, France opposes a proposal being considered by the academy alumni association's board of directors Oct. 17, 2025, to award posthumous honorary membership to conservative activist Charlie Kirk. (Andrew Lee/U.S. Air Force)

France firmly opposes the idea and has made his concerns known to the board. As for the honorary degree, France said the board doesn’t have the authority to award it.

“It’s an insult just on its face, regardless of who he is,” France said, calling the request “ridiculous.”

A spokesperson for the Association of Graduates did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The group has 47 honorary members. They include Gen. James Doolittle, who received the Medal of Honor for his leadership during a raid on Japan in World War II, and former U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona, a Republican who was an avid supporter of the academy.

Newest on the select list is retired Air Force Lt. Col. Louis Burkel III, voted in a year ago. A decorated B-52 navigator who flew 196 combat missions during the Vietnam War, Burkel coached gymnastics at the Air Force Academy for more than 30 years.

Many of the honorary members served 20 years or more in some capacity at the academy or were luminaries, France said, adding that he doesn’t know of any honorary members who were voted in posthumously.

When he was on the board, several people considered for honorary membership were removed from the list after they died, he said.

Bishop was one of five candidates elected to the alumni association’s board of directors who were endorsed by Unity Slate.

“Standards have been lowered, equal opportunity is not ensured for all, and meritocracy has given way to special privileges for identity groups,” the group says on its website.

Retired Lt. Gen. Rod Bishop, a board member of the Air Force Academy's Association of Graduates, supports a proposal to make conservative activist Charlie Kirk a posthumous honorary member of the alumni association. Kirk served on the academy's board of visitors before his assassination in September. (U.S. Air Force)

A strong supporter of Trump, Kirk was placed on the board of visitors after the president in February dismissed a number of such board members at service academies for promoting what he called “woke leftist” ideology.

The proposal to grant Kirk honorary membership has sparked an uproar among academy alumni, said Eric Holt, a 1991 graduate and former faculty member there.

He called the agenda item a “massive overreach” and said a minority on the board is trying to “tie the tragedy of Mr. Kirk’s death to their mission” of making the academy less woke.

“The opposition is all over Facebook,” he said. “I haven’t seen one person in support of these measures.”