WU student tries to start Turning Point USA chapter days before Charlie Kirk assassination

Editor’s Note: When asked, Lexi Thorsett told The Collegian she is a distant relative of Willamette University President Stephen Thorsett. The president’s office declined to comment on family relations.

If anyone hadn’t heard of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) before last week, they have now. That’s especially true at Willamette.

Lexi Thorsett (ʼ26) tabled at the fall Activities Expo on Sept. 8 in hopes of recruiting members to a prospective new Willamette University chapter of the conservative youth organization. Two days later, its founder and head, Charlie Kirk, was shot and killed on a college campus in Utah. 

The future of Thorsett’s chapter is unknown, and the group is searching for a foothold amid a tense moment across America. 

If it is established, Turning Point would enter a deeply liberal Willamette campus. A scant 5% of respondents to the 2023 Campus Climate Survey identified themselves as “conservative.” 

Willamette also holds a transgender and non-binary community three to four times the relative size of those at other universities, according to the survey. Kirk was outspoken against gender fluidity and people who are transgender, among other groups. In 2023, he told a congregation of churchgoers that “the transgender thing” is a “throbbing middle finger to God.” 

TPUSA appears to be the latest conservative group at Willamette since The College Republicans, which the Associated Students of Willamette University disaffiliated in 2021, university administrators reinstated the next year, and has since fizzled out.

How students perceive the politics of this group varies, depending on who you ask. Thorsett describes herself as a “moderate Republican.” TPUSA describes itself as “conservative.” Citing its late leader’s belief in the “great replacement theory,” and the organization’s advocacy of Christian Nationalism, the Southern Poverty Law Center classified TPUSA as “hard-right” in a 2025 article. Among the most vocal attendees of Willamette’s recent activities expo, another term was used to describe the group: “fascist.” 

Protesters push back against prospective chapter at Willamette

On the same morning of the expo, WU Students for a Democratic Society posted on their Instagram that TPUSA would be present at the expo. An ad hoc group of students then demonstrated feet from the table throughout the two-hour fair on the UC second-floor balcony. One demonstrator used a flag to partially cover the TPUSA table before being directed to the other side of the walkway by university administrators. 

Demonstrators looked on as students visited the table to debate or sign-up for the club, periodically yelling, “1 … 2 … 3 … Fascist!” in unison, and calling out to individual visitors of the table. There were no physical altercations during the protest.

Vilet Adams (ʼ29), who joined the demonstration, explained that in her high school’s district, TPUSA funded the campaigns of school board members who took action against transgender students’ ability to use their chosen bathrooms and went after LGBTQ+ affinity clubs and liberal clubs. “Avoid them,” she said. “Don’t support them. … Try to make sure they don’t take hold.”

Another person dropped off a letter at the TPUSA table, which was later shared with The Collegian by Thorsett. It’s unclear who the author was, as the name signed on it did not match any Willamette University email. In the letter, the author argued, “The presence of a far-right conservative hate group is actively unsafe for [queer and BIPOC students]. Encouraging white students to indulge in a history that makes them feel better about themselves enables them to treat BIPOC and queer students badly.” 

Thorsett’s vision for the club

Thorsett was joined at her Expo table by Rilie Ashby, a non-Willamette student and coordinator for TPUSA’s Oregon college and university chapters. 

Jodi Santillie, assistant director of Student Engagement and Leadership (SEAL), said that Ashby tried to set up a recruiting table at last year’s expo but was escorted off campus by campus safety because she is not an enrolled student. 

Then, according to Thorsett, she and Ashby met at a conference in Florida this summer, where they decided to try to establish a chapter again with Thorsett at the helm. 

Santillie said that prospective clubs are allotted tables at the activities expo alongside established clubs and noted that around three of said groups were present at the Sept. 8 event. All that’s required to reserve a spot is a conversation with the SEAL office. 

After the expo, Thorsett stated that she will not be seeking ASWU affiliation, given that she has enough financial and structural support from TPUSA, a stance Santillie was not aware of at the time of TPUSA’s registration for the Expo.

Other non-affiliated clubs exist on campus, generally with staff or faculty support, including one that tabled next to the TPUSA advocates. But without ASWU affiliation, TPUSA would not be able to reserve university space through the usual channels or receive ASWU funding.

Despite bearing the TPUSA name, Thorsett said her beliefs and goals do not perfectly align with those that Kirk held. Both Thorsett and Ashby said they do not plan to contribute to the “Professor Watchlist,” a public database of professors TPUSA has determined to be “radicals.”

What’s more, Thorsett explained that she may differ from other members of TPUSA in her stance on gender issues. She explained that, since arriving at Willamette, she’s “gotten better” at using people’s preferred pronouns and that people who transition are “just trying to make [themselves] feel better and feel more comfortable with [themselves].” 

Still, Thorsett said she feels her beliefs regarding gender-affirming care for minors and transgender women’s participation in sports separate her from most of her classmates. 

In expressing her goals for the club, Thorsett explained that she sought to “flip the script” on students’ perceptions of TPUSA, and that she doesn’t want anyone to feel unsafe by her prospective club’s presence. She hopes to create an environment in which conservative students can speak freely, something she said does not always feel socially possible on campus right now. 

“I just want to push for: ‘Hey, it’s OK to have conservative values and opinions. Here are more people you can talk to and relate to,” she said. “You won’t get called a fascist. You won’t get bullied. …You’re not alone.’” 

What comes next 

Thorsett said shortly after the club fair that she was unsure whether she was “doing the right thing” and that the backlash took an emotional toll on her. But after receiving words of support from Willamette community members, and after the death of Kirk, she said she’s more determined than ever to start a chapter. 

“This poor guy [Kirk] died standing up for what he believes in, which is mostly what I believe in,” she said. “So I’m going to pursue this ambition that he died for.”

Both Thorsett and Ashby said they registered roughly 10 sign-ups for the club at the expo.