A Turning Point USA chapter at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California was not accepted as a registered student organization, an issue the chapter has faced since 2023.
Sadie Burnett, president of the university’s chapter, told Fox News the issue of remaining an unaffiliated chapter on the Vanguard campus.
“The difference between being an unaffiliated chapter versus being a registered student organization is that chapters or organizations that are registered, they can book rooms for meetings well in advance to make sure that they have a space to speak, they have a space to host events,” Burnett said. “They’re allowed to receive university funding. They can rush at club rush and interact with students, interact with new-coming students that are coming in [and] prospective students.”
“Christians have a place in politics, and not only a place, we have a profound voice, the most profound voice in politics,” Burnett further said, concerning the relation of religion to politics at a Christian university, criticizing the university’s stance that politics being discussed on campus as “taboo.”
This apolitical stance appears to be steadily in effect for the university, showing no sign of any upcoming change.
“We received an email over the summer stating that the school was taking a new direction with student organizations,” Burnett also said. “They’re going completely apolitical, giving this idea that Christians do not necessarily belong in politics, which is interesting because they do have a political science department, which I’m a part of.”
According to Fox News, in 2023 students attempted to establish a recognized TPUSA chapter. However, Vanguard University’s vice president for student development, Amanda Lebrecht, said the college is no longer accepting political clubs in alignment with the university’s approach toward “campus clubs affiliated with political advocacy initiatives.”
“We were in the process then of disbanding our inter-club council and moving towards what we now have fully established, which is our student clubs and organization model,” Lebrecht told Fox News Digital.
