“Meet me in the middle, says the unjust man.” – A.R. Moxon
Allow us to be clear: at The Round Table, we do not support the harassment of anyone on campus, and we vehemently condemn all threats that the students behind Turning Point at Beloit have received. The following statement is addressing the Turning Point organization itself, and should not be used as justification to retaliate against students who hold opinions consistent with it.
That being said, it is our understanding that the claims being made by the students behind the potential Beloit chapter of Turning Point USA, particularly those expressed in the letter from Brinley Richards’28 regarding the group’s commitment to “open dialogue,” “free speech,” and being against “political polarization,” are contradictory to TPUSA’s national practices. TPUSA’s wide-reaching and continued use of polarizing and divisive language, imagery, and rhetoric only works to instill division among people of different backgrounds and promote fear-mongering among their conservative base. By all metrics, this is not conducive to the open dialogue they claim to encourage.
Turning Point USA is a multi-million dollar organization, and its function is not just to “foster debate,” but rather to bring in representatives — often with an established social media following — to debate with students at the schools they visit. Fair and equal debate must, by definition, be between equals, on equal grounds. The kind of debate fostered by TPUSA would not result in Beloit College students debating among themselves; rather, it would be Beloit students potentially going up against a paid representative who is neither part of our campus nor invested in local issues.
TPUSA was initially not met with support to become an official club because the representation of TPUSA’s founding principles (as demonstrated in their endorsed media) was in direct opposition to the college’s statement of culture. Since then, the college’s statement of culture has not changed, nor has the endorsed media on the TPUSA official website. The only thing that has changed is increased national attention on the college from recent FOX News articles centering around the issue, resulting in increased pressure upon administration.
There is undeniable campus-wide skepticism that TPUSA genuinely wants to foster anything resembling open dialogue. Had the group of students, in response to BSG’s rejection, simply rebranded to “college republicans,” “political discourse club,” or something to a similar effect, it may have fostered a belief on campus that what is being advocated for is the idea of open dialogue, not the ideology of TPUSA.
It is impossible to separate TPUSA from the ideas it proliferates. To expect students to give the benefit of the doubt to other students is ignoring the harm that the rhetoric and ideology promoted by TPUSA causes to individuals in our campus community, particularly to the rights, privileges, and freedoms of at-risk groups. Students who feel actively endangered by TPUSA’s mission, morals, and stances should not be asked to concede that their ability to safely exist authentically as individuals is an acceptable sacrifice for “all viewpoints” to be considered.
The Round Table champions open political dialogue, freedom of speech, diversity of thought, and freedom of the press as the bedrock of all good-faith journalism, which is why we feel it necessary to address this openly here. However, it is often crucial to look closer at ideologies that have the potential to cause harm to the larger community, and continue to discuss them honestly on equal grounds, as students and members of the campus community. It is our belief that a Turning Point USA chapter at our college is not going to foster the kind of discussions that it claims to encourage, and may even detract from them. We believe that these conversations are important to have as individuals, and encourage all students to keep talking and learning from one another.
The Round Table believes that every student on campus should have conversations to learn, accept, and grow together, without the interference or presence of a larger outside organization.
Featured image: The Round Table
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