[Updated] ASWU senate votes unanimously against the affiliation of Turning Point USA chapter
- Aubrey Lee, Staff Writer, and Bjorn Domst, Managing Editor
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
On Nov. 20, the Associated Students of Willamette University (ASWU) senate voted unanimously against club affiliation of a Willamette student chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA). This decision came after weeks of debate amongst senators and following ongoing pushback against the chapter from the Willamette student body.
In September, prospective president of the TPUSA chapter Lexi Thorsett (ʼ26) told The Collegian she would not be seeking ASWU affiliation, but she has since reversed this decision.
Later, in a written statement on Nov. 10, Thorsett reaffirmed that she would not be seeking funding from ASWU, at least at the current moment. Other than funding, clubs affiliated with ASWU are able to reserve spots on campus and gain a secondary advisor from the Student Engagement and Leadership (SEAL) office.
When the possibility of TPUSA affiliation was first brought up on the agenda at the Oct. 23 senate meeting, no vote was passed due to a “lack of quorum,” meaning that too many senators had chosen to abstain.
On Nov. 13, TPUSA affiliation was back on the agenda again. Following about 15 minutes of public comment largely in disapproval of affiliation, senators voted to table the motion 7-7.
Acting Vice President Pro-Tempore Hannah Moses (ʼ28) made the final tiebreaking vote in favor of tabling the motion, as Vice President Jay Chew (ʼ26) was not present at the meeting. It was not until this most recent Nov. 20 meeting that the senate made its unanimous decision against TPUSA affiliation.
Updated 8 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 24
In a written response to The Collegian regarding ASWU’s vote against affiliation, Thorsett expressed that she felt ASWU’s decision was not fair to her prospective club. She acknowledged that ASWU’s role on campus is to represent the student body of Willamette but noted that “all clubs should be held to the same standards regardless of national affiliation.”
Thorsett also reasserted her prospective club’s independence. “Turning Point USA chapters nationwide are individual clubs that are shaped by their community and those who join,” she said.
“Time and time again, I have assured people here that we are not a violent or hateful group. We simply want a space where we can be ourselves, and to my understanding, that is what Willamette encourages.”
She added, “I want to prove that Turning Point USA is not hateful and it is not violent, but I’m not even being given the chance to show that, and I am the one receiving hate and unacceptance.”
In an interview with The Collegian, first-year senator Peyton Edmunds (’29) outlined several of her reasons for voting against affiliation, particularly as related to the way she perceives ASWU’s role on campus.
“Overall, there is an obligation for members of ASWU to uphold what students want,” she said.
Edmunds noted that she received “an overwhelming amount of emails from people saying they'd feel genuinely unsafe if TPUSA was on campus.” Because of this, she said, “Any situation where I were to vote ‘yes’ for affiliation, I'd be just totally diminishing this obligation.”
Expanding on the idea of safety concerns, Edmunds highlighted the large LGBTQ+ population on campus: “If we have an organization on campus that actively not only, like, diminishes that but also rejects those [LGBTQ+] identities, I think it would be a net negative.”
A third concern for her is TPUSA’s professor watchlist and its potential impacts on the safety of professors. In a prior interview with The Collegian, Thorsett indicated that she was not interested in contributing to the professor watchlist.
Edmunds made clear that her decision was not intended to target general conservative beliefs. “I think overall, having conservative voices on campus is a good thing. I think that there is an issue at Willamette where people are only hearing a couple opinions. However, I think that ultimately, TPUSA is not the way to do it because of the affiliation with the national organization.”
Based on TPUSA’s club affiliation paperwork and its desire to create a social space for conservative voices, Edmunds believes that there are better ways than affiliating with the national TPUSA organization. For example, Edmunds said that she would support affiliating a general conservative or Young Republicans group on campus.
“I'm mostly just trying to act in accordance with what my class overall is saying and represent them the best that I can,” she said.