Point Park University (PPU) officials may intervene after a decision was made by its Student Government Association (SGA) to deny the recognition of a Turning Point USA chapter on campus.
The university’s student senate voted unanimously this spring to prevent a chapter from gaining official recognition as a campus club.
“We encourage SGA to revisit this matter should a current student interested in forming a Turning Point USA Chapter at Point Park University choose to resubmit an application for recognition,” a faculty member involved in the situation told The College Fix.
The free speech-focused legal organization FIRE is also pressuring the university on behalf of the chapter. In May, FIRE sent PPU President Chris W. Brussalis a letter detailing how the chapter had been wronged by the student government association, demanding further action.
“Policies against viewpoint discrimination have been a vital protection for dissenting groups across the political spectrum,” FIRE wrote. “If student governments or university administrators are permitted to deny recognition or funding because they or others object to a group’s views, the rights of all such groups would be imperiled. And because SGA is an elected body, giving it unfettered discretion to determine group recognition subjects every group’s ability to organize and speak on campus to what is effectively a popularity contest.”
“University recognition of a student organization is not an endorsement of that group, its speakers, events, or ideology,” FIRE further argued. “No reasonable person could believe otherwise at PPU, considering the more than 50 groups the SGA recognizes—many of whom work at crosspurposes. Rather, recognition is merely an acknowledgment that the group has met the stated criteria to receive university recognition.”
FIRE requested from PPU a response confirming the university will ensure its SGA will “reconsider TPUSA’s chapter recognition and base its decision solely on viewpoint-neutral criteria.”
Turning Point USA Spokesman Matt Shupe made the following comment when asked about the blocked PPU chapter by The College Fix.
“If the administration does not overrule this brazenly anti-free speech decision by the deadline, we will work with our students to hold the university accountable through every available means,” Shupe said.
It has become a common trend throughout American universities for TPUSA chapters to face pushback from their student governments and find difficulty in getting a recognized chapter on campus.
