Good Evening, esteemed senators, and Madame Vice-President. My name is , and I wanted to thank you for allowing your constituents to voice their opinion here today. I rise this evening to speak firmly against the chartering of Turning Point USA at Loyola University New Orleans. As an introduction, Turning Point USA is a conservative political action organization that is known for hosting public debates and hosting conservative commentators on university campuses. These commentators include Benjamin A. Shapiro— who said in 2010 that “Arabs like to bomb crap and live in open sewage," and Michael J. Knowles— who claimed at CPAC in 2018 that “for the good of society, transgenderism [sic] must be eradicated from public life entirely.” I will concede that the TPUSA platform does include some understandable and agreeable positions, including but not limited to a slide from their “Love Liberty” campaign that rightfully celebrates the United States for her religious diversity, including the statement that, “The United States consistently lists among the countries with the most amount of religious freedom.” However, TPUSA founder, the late Charles J. Kirk described Islam by saying that “[Muslims] seek to take over land and territory” It is simply not consistent with the values of Loyola University New Orleans to host organizations that would use such terms to describe a significant subset of our student body. Furthermore, given LOYNO’s reputation as a school where students of all identities— gender-wise, racially, or religiously— can find themselves, it would be distasteful to invite open hate speech and divisive rhetoric onto our campus. It is that vein that I respectfully ask you to deny the chartering of this student organization.
Loyola University New Orleans and our whole community of Jesuit universities have prided themselves on the core values of St. Ignatius de Loyola and the Society of Jesus. As it stands, Turning Point USA, its leaders, and many of those individuals whom they support are in direct opposition to these Jesuit values— in particular: cura personalis, and concern for the poor and oppressed. Cura personalis is described as « care for the whole person. » Late founder Charlie Kirk said that queer people are trying to « corrupt your children » and— in an article for The American Mind (2021)— that « transgenderism and gender 'fluidity' are lies that hurt people and abuse kids. » It is not the position of myself or of the many transgender, non-binary, and queer students at Loyola that these statements constitute care for their personhood. It is my understanding that care for the whole person includes care for their varied identities including identities that others may not understand or agree with. It is furthermore my opinion that these statements from Turning Point’s founder and whose widower is CEO, could present a hostile educational environment to queer students. These unfortunate statements are not exclusively limited to the queer community. Whereas the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities has taken a firm position of anti-racism, Kirk has referred not only to “moronic black women” who only have their jobs due to affirmative action, but also to the idea that “prowling Blacks go around for fun to go target white people.” I offer this to the senators, would it be— as the AJCU has noted— “face[ing] the gritty reality of racism” and “transforming it” to charter this organization? Is this an organization that displays our values here at Loyola or the values of the Society of Jesus at large? Does the claim that « some degree of gun violence is necessary for freedom » support the whole person? If there are places where I am incorrect, I would invite the leaders of our potential chapter to answer: How do you plan on implementing the Jesuit values of— in particular— concern for the poor and oppressed and cura personalis? — I would furthermore ask the senators to vote against the chartering of this student organization.
In addition to a wealth of hateful and incendiary rhetoric, Turning Point USA is known for hosting their “change my mind” events on college campuses. Beyond being a fountain of poisonous rhetoric, these events have sparked violent confrontation on college campuses. In 2023, the far-right “Proud Boys” clashed with progressive protestors on the Campus of the University of California, Davis. In April of this year, there was a violent conflict between TPUSA and progressives that resulted in several injuries and militarized riot police being deployed again to UC Davis. The incendiary rhetoric that this organization spews is directly correlated to political violence and campus unrest. This can even be shown in the circumstances surrounding Kirk’s death which were again an instance of violence being perpetrated on a university campus based on political prescriptions. Even fellow conservative commentator Stephen B. Crowder indirectly acknowledged the potential dangers of this format when he was accompanied by Texas state troopers and wore a kevlar vest at his most recent “change my mind” event at Southern Methodist University in Texas. Loyola University New Orleans cannot afford to bring this type of threat to our campus. These events pose a significant threat to the safety and well-being of our student body, faculty, staff, administration, and the general public. It is in that vein that I, Jeffery Norris humbly request that the senators deny this student organization their charter.
We will also have a member reading personal statements from various students.
Section D:
I’m a mathematics student here at Loyola. I am a person of transgender and genderqueer experiences, and that is as an innate part of my personhood as my experiences as a person from Louisiana or as a mathematician— second only to my faith in God. It is my personal belief, as well as the opinions of many queer students here that Turning Point USA, an organization whose speakers include Michael Knowles who has advocated the wholesale “eradication of transgenderism from public life,” presents a significant risk of creating a hostile educational environment at Loyola— a school prided on its diversity. It is my position as a student, constituent, and friend, that we cannot allow TPUSA to sow discord and hostility amongst the very multi-faceted character of Loyola’s student body.
As a queer and trans student at Loyola, I decided to come to this school due to its promise of diversity and acceptance. Turning Point USA was created by someone who used Christian values to justify hate. Charlie Kirk, in response to someone saying “love thy neighbor,” he used the bible to justify the stoning of gay people, calling it “God’s perfect law when it comes to sexual matters”. Charlie Kirk also spoke loudly about the great replacement theory. This isn’t just differing views; this is hate speech. Turning Point calls itself a Christian organization, but all the people who had a hand in creating it hold transphobic, homophobic, and xenophobic beliefs while using Christianity as a justification. By allowing this organization to exist on our campus, it will cause insane amounts of tension and make students who have been targets of the hate spread by the founder feel unsafe.
I’m an Environmental Studies student here at Loyola University. As someone from a Cuban background and who was raised Catholic, I’m all too familiar with a broad array of varying political and religious attitudes and the necessity of being able to walk the fine line that engenders positive dialogue with even the most diametrically opposed perspectives. It is because of this that I can wholeheartedly state that the introduction of a Turning Point chapter at Loyola would only result in heightened tension and animosity amongst the student body. Contrary to their claims of wanting to create “open spaces for discussion”, their inflammatory rhetoric disguised as genuine religious open mindedness will do nothing but create an environment of isolation and fear for me and many many other students here at Loyola. Turning Point USA seeks not to bridge gaps between the ideologically and religious disparate but rather to sow division amongst many students who already feel deeply divided under this current administration. As such, I cannot but emphatically condemn the potential chartering of a Turning Point USA branch here at Loyola University.
I’m a Hip-Hop and R&B major here at Loyola University. As a queer student born and raised in Puerto Rico, I was provided with the privilege of not paying the most attention to Turning Point USA and the statements of Charlie Kirk. Now that I’m a resident of New Orleans, I know that the statements made against the LGBTQ+ community and the Latine community are going to affect me directly going forward. Especially with the death of Charlie Kirk, the far-right Republican party has doubled down on defending his statements and acting in a way to “continue his mission”. All of this to say, I am terrified of what’s to come for this country and what that will do to the university I paid top dollar to attend. I feel endangered by the often-violent tendencies of Turning Point USA, not just against the LGBTQ+ community, but to anyone who they consider their “enemy”. They threaten politicians, businesspeople, companies, and most of all—innocent people. This has proven to empower their followers to take direct, violent action, which Charlie Kirk had actively defended in the case of the man behind the attempted homicide of Paul Pelosi, whom he called a patriot. This isn’t unknown information either—ever since the Loyola chapter of Turning Point USA was announced, many in the student body have outwardly proclaimed their distaste for it, bringing up examples of their hypocrisies and their dangerous rhetoric. For this, I ask, why? Why are we giving such an obviously unpopular, divisive, and dangerous organization a chance at being mobilized on campus? I implore everyone to reconsider what Turning Point USA could bring to Loyola and to stop the potential chartering of this organization.
