{"id":15859,"date":"2025-11-02T02:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T09:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fort-lewis-college-student-board-denies-proposed-turning-point-usa-chapter-on-campus\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:52:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:52:25","slug":"fort-lewis-college-student-board-denies-proposed-turning-point-usa-chapter-on-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/fort-lewis-college-student-board-denies-proposed-turning-point-usa-chapter-on-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lewis College student board denies proposed Turning Point USA chapter on campus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Fort
Fort Lewis College senior Jonah Flynn advocated for instating a Turning Point USA chapter as an official student group during a packed Associated Students of Fort Lewis College board meeting Wednesday on campus. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Associated Students of Fort Lewis College board voted against instating a Turning Point USA chapter at the college in front of a packed room Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Vallecito room in FLC\u2019s Student Union was filled wall-to-wall with students and community members during the tense four-hour meeting, where more than 30 students spoke in opposition of the measure. Around 15 additional attendees hoping to speak against the measure were unable to address the room due to time constraints.<\/p>\n

Turning Point USA<\/a>, a nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college and university campuses, was founded in 2012 by political activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot and killed Sept. 10 on the Utah Valley University campus.<\/p>\n

Turning Point USA says it has more than 800 chapters <\/a>across American colleges and universities.<\/p>\n

Several students became emotional during their speeches.<\/p>\n

FLC senior Jonah Flynn \u2013 the main driving force behind pursuing a Turning Point chapter \u2013 pleaded his case several times during the meeting, including through a PowerPoint presentation that described what operation would look like, and a public question-and-answer session with attendees and board members.<\/p>\n

Flynn said he wanted to bring a chapter to FLC in response to Kirk\u2019s assassination<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He argued that a Turning Point chapter would be about \u201ckeeping the conversation going\u201d and advancing conservative values, and wouldn\u2019t pose a threat to marginalized students \u2013 a concern brought up by nearly every student who spoke in opposition of the group during the meeting.<\/p>\n

Flynn said the group would pursue changing any gender neutral bathrooms on campus back to gendered bathrooms and hosting speaker and Gays Against Groomers Colorado chapter leader Rich Guggenheim \u2013 known for his vocal opposition to contemporary gender ideology and gender-affirming care \u2013 on campus on Transgender Day of Remembrance. He said the scheduling choice was a coincidence, not a targeted statement.<\/p>\n

He said the group would be open to the idea of creating an FLC version of Turning Point\u2019s Professor Watchlist, a database launched by Kirk and Turning Point that aims to \u201cexpose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom,\u201d according to Turning Point\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The watchlist has been criticized as targeting minority professors and endangering faculty. <\/a><\/p>\n

Three others spoke in support of instating a Turning Point chapter, including a student and two community members. Fewer than 10 individuals spoke from a neutral standpoint.<\/p>\n

\"Fort
Fort Lewis College senior Anya Snyder spoke in opposition of a Turning Point USA chapter being instated as an official student group on campus during a tense four-hour meeting Wednesday on campus. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Many of the three-minute speeches were delivered with emotion.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough, on an individual level, the people who are here representing Turning Point may not want my rights personally to be stripped away, we are all aware \u2013 painfully aware \u2013 of the harmful and violent and hateful remarks that have been made by its founder, Charlie Kirk,\u201d said FLC senior Anya Snyder during her speech. \u201cWe know the rhetoric that he has put out against people in marginalized communities, and I don\u2019t believe that having that conversation on campus will do any good at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said relief was the main emotion she felt when the decision was announced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am insanely relieved,\u201d Snyder told The Durango Herald<\/em>. \u201cI feel like our student body government really listened to the concerns that a majority of the student body had, which is a really nice feeling, especially in today\u2019s political climate, where I feel like a lot of minority concerns are not being listened to at all. I feel like Fort Lewis is going to stay the safe space that all the queer people and minority groups on campus have come to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fort
Fort Lewis College junior Nolan Tucker spoke from a neutral standpoint during a tense four-hour meeting on campus Wednesday focused on determining whether a Turning Point USA chapter should be instated as an official student group on campus. The board voted not to accept Turning Point as a student group on campus. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Junior Nolan Tucker was one of several students who spoke from a neutral stance.<\/p>\n

In his speech, he advocated for open conversation across political lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everybody should have a voice, and you can do that respectfully \u2013 have a conversation, agree to disagree, and we can still function as society,\u201d Tucker told the Herald.<\/em> \u201c(It) doesn\u2019t have to be so polarized. At the end of the day, most people want the same things. It\u2019s just, there are different ways of going about (getting there).\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
A packed room of Fort Lewis College students cheer Wednesday at the conclusion of a four-hour on-campus meeting where Associated Students of Fort Lewis College board President Asa Worthington announced that a Turning Point USA chapter will not be instated as an official student group on campus. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Following a nearly four-hour public comment session and a 10-minute closed executive session, the seven senators on the board cast their ballots in front of the room to determine the fate of the proposed FLC Turning Point chapter. The decision to deny the student group request was announced by ASFLC President Asa Worthington.<\/p>\n

Flynn told the Herald<\/em> he was disappointed by the decision, calling it an \u201cideological choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obvious that the club should exist,\u201d he said. \u201cThey talked all about being unbiased and whatnot, then they reject it for ideological reasons, or maybe because they\u2019re scared about some kind of pushback, or something like that. They have no idea what kind of pushback they\u2019re going to get now. I mean, it\u2019s clearly a violation of their own policies to reject (the group).\u201d<\/p>\n

Fort Lewis College responded to the decision in an official statement Thursday, saying that ASFLC reviews all new student organization proposals through the same peer-to-peer process, and that applicants are able to appeal decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a public institution of higher education, Fort Lewis College \u2026 upholds the rights to free speech and expression for all members of our community, consistent with college policies and state and federal law,\u201d the college said. \u201cWe encourage all students to continue engaging in dialogue that reflects our shared values of learning, respect and inclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Associated
Associated Students of Fort Lewis College board President Asa Worthington, center, and fellow senators and board members led a tense four-hour meeting on campus Wednesday focused on determining whether a Turning Point USA chapter should be instated as an official student group on campus. The board voted to not accept Turning Point as a student group on campus. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Worthington told the Herald<\/em> the decision reflected the people having spoken.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m blessed to be able to have this opportunity to help properly conduct these things, as well as be able to be within the company of really smart, ethical, great people,\u201d he said. \u201cI stand by my Senate. I let the decision speak for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

epond@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Fort
Fort Lewis College senior Jonah Flynn advocated for instating a Turning Point USA chapter as an official student group during a packed Associated Students of Fort Lewis College board meeting on campus Wednesday. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Much
Much of the packed Vallecito room on the Fort Lewis College campus raised their hands Wednesday when asked by a student speaker if the concept of a Turning Point USA chapter at FLC made anyone in the room feel unsafe. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Fort
Fort Lewis College senior Jonah Flynn advocated for instating a Turning Point USA chapter as an official student group during a packed Associated Students of Fort Lewis College board meeting on campus Wednesday. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Fort
Fort Lewis College senior Fi Eikenberry, center, has an emotional reaction to Associated Students of Fort Lewis College board President Asa Worthington announcing that a Turning Point USA chapter will not be instated as an official student group on campus. Eikenberry spoke in opposition of the measure earlier in the four-hour meeting. (Elizabeth Pond\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students, community members show up for tense meeting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[132,28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-15859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-fort-lewis-college","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15859"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19882,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15859\/revisions\/19882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15859"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=15859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}