Turning Point revival sparks controversy on campus

Augustana’s chapter of Turning Point USA announced its revival on campus earlier this March, following a period of inactivity that began in 2022. News of the club’s recent start-up has led to controversy among students over the organization’s stances. 

According to the AU TPUSA constitution, the purpose of the organization is “to educate students about the importance of fiscal responsibility, free markets, free speech, and limited government through innovative campus activism and thought-provoking discussion.” 

ASA Technical Director Prince Adhikari announced at ASA’s March 3 meeting that AU TPUSA — which was established in 2018 — was becoming active again and would be eligible for ASA funding again. It is unclear why the organization became frozen and what led to its reinstatement. 

The AU TPUSA president, vice president and secretary declined to comment on this article. The group’s treasurer did not respond to email requests for an interview before the publication of this article. 

Nathan McQuinn, director of student engagement, said he believes the organization’s revival may have to do with the upcoming presidential election. 

“I’m sure one reason is because it’s an election year, and a lot of times, especially political organizations tend to get more active in the summer and in the eve and leading up to and during an election year,” McQuinn said. 

According to McQuinn, AU TPUSA followed the correct processes to become reinstated, which includes meeting with someone from Student Engagement to ensure the club still meets the requirements for approval, such as having at least 10 members, a constitution and an adviser, among other specifications.

The organization’s first event — a showing of a documentary entitled “What is a Woman?” — resulted in mixed opinions from students. 

According to IMDb, “What is a Woman?” is a film by American political commentator Matt Walsh that “explores the changing concepts of sex and gender in the digital age, particularly the transgender rights movement, anti-transgender bigotry, and what it means to be a woman.” 

The event was held on March 21 in the Madsen Center, and 47 members of the Augustana community were present in addition to eight security personnel from Campus Safety and the Sioux Falls Police Department. 

Freshman finance major Arthur Negus said he enjoyed the event. 

“Overall, I thought it was a triumph,” Negus said. “It had a great turnout, and everybody who I talked to since the event said they had a great time.”  

Senior Anna Tindall, a nursing major and swimmer, said she attended the movie because she was curious. 

“I went to the movie because, originally, I was interested in it because of the controversy with the swimmer Lia Thomas,” Tindall said. “I’ve kind of been interested in it because of how it affected the swimming world, so I was like ‘This looks interesting. Let me see what it’s about.’”

Other attendees, like senior Jose Serna, a government and sociology major, and senior Demeter Walkins, a religion and philosophy major, said they attended as a form of peaceful protest. 

“I’m glad it was peaceful and civil,” Serna said. “I think the security presence was a little bit over done.”

Serna said he found the principal question of the movie to be flawed, as it was “very general.” 

“I don’t see the movie as very educational,” Serna said. “I see it as very demeaning against people that are trans and people that are queer.” 

Serna said that although he does not agree with the organization’s platforms, he does not wish to shut AU TPUSA down. 

“I believe in them being able to be on campus as long as they’re not hurting marginalized populations,” Serna said. 

Walkins said she believes TPUSA is controversial and does not believe the university should be giving the organization a platform on campus. 

“We cannot, as a campus community, allow for this type of hate, hateful rhetoric, as well as controversy to continue for the sake of controversy,” Walkins said.

Walkins said that, as a transgender woman, she does not feel safe with a chapter of TPUSA on campus. 

“From what I’ve seen, they don’t particularly care about this marginalized group at the very least, and I probably won’t be able to change their minds on that,” Walkins said. “I would just like them to think about who they’re affecting and why they’re affecting those, and why they believe what they believe and reexamine their position.” 

Some supporters of AU TPUSA, like junior Sophia Eisma, a business and communications major, said students should research TPUSA platforms and engage in civil discussion about the organization’s platform. 

“I don’t think it would hurt to hear really what it’s about, not just listening to what people say on YikYak, [things like] ‘We’re all fascists, and we hate transgender people’ and all that because that’s not true,” Eisma said.  

Negus said he wants students to know that AU TPUSA is not a malicious entity he believes it is sometimes made out to be. 

“If a person who is against Turning Point would come to our events, they would find all of us to be very friendly, very civil and very open to productive discussion and debate,” Negus said. 

Eisma said she is excited for AU TPUSA’s revival because she hopes it will further diversity on campus by bringing together Augustana students who hold traditional conservative beliefs. 

“It might just show us that ‘Oh, there’s other people who think like me, and I don’t have to feel like no one believes the same things I do,'” Eisma said. 

Negus said he is optimistic about the organization’s future at Augustana. 

“Turnout has been very good and I think that with a strong combination of hard work and persistence, I think that the club overall will do very well in the future,” Negus said. 

Tindall said she understands why some students are upset by the organization’s presence, but she believes the club should be allowed to have a place on campus. 

“Since there’s clubs that celebrate more people who are left, I feel like it’s only right that there be clubs that celebrate conservative and Republicans too because they should have people they relate to,” Tindall said. 

Tindall said she is not a member of AU TPUSA and does not have plans to join at this time. 

“I’m not taking a side just because I don’t judge people based off of what they think on the surface level,” Tindall said. “There’s always a reason why people think the way they think.”