Beloit Students Attempt to Bring Turning Point USA Chapter to Beloit

By EMMA LAUS

This past week, the Instagram account @tpusa_beloit circulated among the campus community. The account was created by a group of Beloit students who aimed to create a Turning Point USA chapter at the college. 

The account quickly gained traction, with students and alumni expressing distaste for the organization and the organization’s founder, Charlie Kirk. Commenters under the account’s posts expressed their anger and concern over the organization’s legacy and right-wing rhetoric, and were critical of the group’s claim for “non-partisan debate.” 

Turning Point USA is a national organization that advocates for “conservative values” on school campuses, encouraging students to start chapters at their high schools and universities. On the Turning Point website, these chapters are described as the “student mobilization of America’s most spirited anti-woke warriors.” 

Other facets of the organization include a “Professor Watchlist,” which aims to “expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom,” a “School Board Watchlist,” which “identifies school districts across the country that are abusing their power to push Leftist, racist and anti-American propaganda” and “Dean’s List,” a college prep service.

A little over a month after the assasination of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, the group of students at Beloit began advertising their prospective chapter. While members of the group declined an interview with The Round Table, Gregory Abshire’29, the president, shared a prepared written statement: 

“The Turning Point USA chapter at Beloit College is dedicated to promoting the principles of free speech, individual liberty, limited government, and free markets within our campus community. Our mission is to foster open dialogue and encourage students from all backgrounds and perspectives to engage in thoughtful, respectful discussions about the ideas that shape our society.

In today’s often polarized political climate, our chapter strives to cultivate a culture of constructive dialogue and civic engagement. Participating in open, civil discourse not only enhances social awareness but also deepens understanding of the diverse origins and reasoning behind differing beliefs. The Turning Point USA chapter at Beloit College seeks to contribute to the campus’s ideological diversity and ensure that all voices, regardless of political affiliation, are heard, respected, and valued.”

While Abshire and the other executives have not actually applied to be a club, The Round Table was informed by Ana Tolentino’27, the Clubs and Organizations Oversight Committee (COO) director, that they would not be approved, as a docuseries on the national organization’s website, “Race War” directly violates the college’s statement of culture. This docuseries directly opposes Critical Race Theory and affirmative action, and is backed by BLEXIT, a group “powered by Turning Point.” According to the BLEXIT website, the group’s name stands for “Black Exit from the victimhood mentality,” and is the country’s largest conservative minority grassroots movement.

The Beloit College statement of culture, ratified by the entire student body in Sept. 2022, addresses anti-racism and inclusivity when it says, “[w]e recognize that historically white institutions like Beloit College were created to serve the privileged and perpetuate white ways of knowing that can inflict violence towards nonwhite members.” It also acknowledges the power structures that empower privileged communities at the expense of marginalized ones.

“If they still wish to become a club and have a republican group represented on campus, they can apply to be ratified, as long as they are no longer associated with TP USA,” says Tolentino. “If they proceed and apply as a republican club or something along those lines, they would be under the same sanctions as College Democrats, which is our only politically affiliated club at the moment.”

_{Featured image: Kathryn Palmer/Inside Higher Ed}