Recent news regarding a new chapter of well-known right-wing political group Turning Point USA, founded by the late conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk, has sent Drew students into furious debate.
Many members of the Drew community – students, faculty and staff alike – have raised serious concerns about its newfound presence on Drew’s campus.
At the beginning of March, posters began to spread around campus buildings like Hall of Sciences, Brothers College and Seminary Hall emblazoned with an invitation to “come join our Turning Point USA chapter starting up [at Drew].” Each had a QR code leading to a form requesting a name, email and school affiliation.
Many students also noticed that some of TPUSA’s posters in Seminary Hall appeared to block those of cultural clubs from view, such as one advertising a “Know Your Rights” event jointly held by immigrants’ rights collective Esperanza and Hispanic heritage theme house La Casa Latina. Another blocked one advertising an arts fair for victims of sexual and domestic violence.
The Drew community has a history of swiftly reacting to and protecting its members against the presence of political violence and bigotry on our campus in the past as well. Despite many being severely rattled by recent rumors of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence at Drew, the Drew community leapt into action the moment news started to spread.
Many took to the paths to warn friends and classmates, while students and faculty alike began to surgically comb through campus streets and hallways to check for any signs of ICE activity.
Within just two or three hours, the community response thankfully confirmed that the rumors were mistaken, much to the relief of many students of color.
This time, the overwhelming condemnation of Turning Point from the campus community was similarly immediate. Students quickly began to sound the alarm on social media: “Turning Point USA is evil and it better not corrupt this campus,” said one Yik Yak user. “This is not what the fans [want to] see,” commented another. “Get that…outta here,” remarked a third.
However, with not much information from Drew’s administration on the source of these flyers or whether they have even been approved as an organization – let alone the potential threat they might pose to those from marginalized backgrounds – the prevailing sentiment on campus is anger and concern.
Students and faculty are right to be concerned. Turning Point has a long history of visiting college campuses (often without permission from school officials) and inflaming tensions in order to deliberately stoke fear and division among students and professors.
This is clearly displayed in many incidents nationwide such as at Arizona State University, where the Guardian reports that professor David Boyles, who identifies as queer, was physically assaulted and injured by two Turning Point members after they accosted and harassed him about “his sexuality and the classes he teaches” without provocation.
In another flagrant display of disdain for any and all forms of the respectful debate that the group claims to promote, Turning Point was also involved in a campaign of “threats and harassment” at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. (barely 45 minutes from Drew) including a string of death threats and doxxing that made professor of global history Mark Bray feel a necessity to temporarily leave the United States out of fear for his, his family’s and his children’s safety.
A student in one of his classes posted a screenshot online of Bray’s announcement on Canvas, in which Bray explains that “since my family and I do not feel safe in our home at the moment, we are moving for the year to Europe.” This came immediately after he was sent another threat that included his home address.
A change.org petition has also been started by other concerned students asking Rutgers to “disband” its chapter of TPUSA immediately. “Turning Point USA espouses rhetoric that is harmful to our students and deifies a man who was racist, homophobic, Islamophobic and misogynistic,” say signers of the petition; “this kind of hate speech only breeds bigotry and contempt.”
This clearly indicates a pattern of fearmongering and violence that should be extremely disturbing and worrying to any American, let alone members of a college community such as Drew where students come to learn and grow.
How are we as students supposed to pay attention in our classes when right-wing extremists continually threaten to come to our campuses not to learn, but for target practice? How are we and our friends and classmates to feel safe walking through the halls of Brothers College under the ever-looming possibility that our paths could become a haven for violence and hate?
No official response has yet been shared by Mead Hall. The department of Student Engagement told student government senators who approached them with concerns that their office was very limited in what it could do to restrict things like this without said response.
“No one should tolerate death threats nor political violence. Take responsibility for your words and actions,” says another petition signer—and there is an urgent and undeniable need for us to follow that advice.
This kind of ignorance and bigotry has no place whatsoever in our school. We urge Drew to follow the precedent of swift responses set by our community. We must take action now—before it’s too late—to stand against TPUSA on our campus and prevent this hateful drivel from spreading any further.
Sabr Keres-Siddiqui is a junior majoring in political science major and sociology with a minor in anthropology
Angela Loeser is a junior majoring in cybersecurity major and minoring in Italian
