A pre-existing Turning Point USA chapter at California Lutheran University was disapproved in a 2-11-1 secret-ballot vote by the school’s student senate on Monday.
According to The Echo, which reported exclusively on the matter, students presented various arguments against the organization, stating a chapter would be contrary to the university’s values.
“I wasn’t personally surprised by the outcome,” Associated Students of California Lutheran University Commuter senator Carlos Daniel Zaragosa. “At the end of the day, we do try to be fair, impartial and we want to see all clubs succeed. But we will notice when a club is trying to push a certain rhetoric, and the last thing we need is controversy here on this campus.”
Junior Senator Nadege Adibonou felt concerned with her safety with a TPUSA chapter on campus as a black student.
“These club members are trying to say that they welcome everybody, but they could not tell me as a Black female senator here on campus how I can feel safe in their environment. They could not answer that question. How do I then feel comfortable enough to vote for this type of club if you can’t tell me how me and my friends could feel safe? “I do not think that this club deserves to have our funding.”
Some of the senators, such as Laylanie Valenzuela, were against the chapter’s approval concerning student safety as well, especially students in the TPUSA chapter.
“For us senators, we need to think about the safety of all our students. I’d be concerned that you guys would be attacked; and the mental challenge of that, on you, makes me hesitant,” Valenzuela said. “I can feel the tension, already, in the room, and I’m wondering how this feeling for me right now in this small space is going to correlate to our campus.”
Of additional concern for the critics of TPUSA was the Professor Watchlist, which the chapter’s would-be vice president, Luke Taylor, disavowed.
“Our main point is not to criticize, to bring down professors or to ruin their careers,” Taylor said in response, according to The Echo. “So we would not encourage [the professor watchlist]. I personally don’t really agree with it.”
Taylor finds it concerning that an organization based on free speech is being shut down. Yet, he is confident that TPUSA will return to the campus sooner or later
“No matter what your belief is, I think you should be able to speak it,” he said. “That’s why we live in this country. And to hear all those people saying that we’re shutting them down when our organization gives people a microphone? It doesn’t matter that we were shut down today. God is still God. God is king. We believe in him. His purpose is great and we’ll continue fighting.”
