FEATURED
Turning Point USA represents a threat to campus and must not be approved, according to student government leaders at Elmhurst University in suburban Chicago. However, university officials say they are “monitoring the situation.”
Campus club founder Tim Dudasik recently spoke to The College Fix via a phone interview about his fight to start a chapter of the free-market student club at the private college in Elmhurst. He said student government leaders believe TPUSA is an “unsafe threat to campus.”
While the senior always had an interest in politics, the assassination of Charlie Kirk, inspired him to start his own chapter. He said he “immediately filed an application” to start a chapter after the September 10, 2025 assassination of Turning Point USA’s founder.
He initially had problems finding a faculty sponsor, emailing at least 25 professors without success. However, he told The Fix that multiple professors reached out to him after a student newspaper story came out about the new organization.
Yet, he ran into further problems when he had to present to the student government and his peers denied his request for official recognition.
That means the club is not allowed to meet in classrooms or “congregate on campus in any way.”
The denial also prevents the club from doing something Dudasik is passionate about: “The big idea [with Turning Point] is tabling – being able to be on campus, talk about politics, religion, and all these divisive topics,” he said. “But without being officially recognized by the school, you can’t do that.”
The chapter’s next steps are to address a list of concerns that the Student Government had provided them.
“We’re… essentially [going to] go through the same process we did last semester, [to] address their concerns,” Dudasik said. “And if denied again, our next step is to become loud and vocal […a]nd to really express the need and desire for an organization like this on campus, because the more the school realizes that it’s something that’s wanted, it becomes something that’s harder for them to deny.”
Still, Dudasik has found ways to organize his like-minded peers – a virtual event with former Olympian Anthony Watson drew 52 interested students. The national Turning Point USA also recognizes the chapter.
Elmhurst officials won’t commit to approving the club
The university confirmed to The Fix that the student government must first approve the club before the school will.
“The University is monitoring the situation to ensure that the group’s application is treated fairly, and that it receives the same consideration as any other group applying for recognition as a student organization,” Desiree Chen, a spokeswoman for the school, told The Fix via email.
She has not responded in the past week for clarification on what the restrictions are on the club and why the school does not just intervene and approve the application.
While Turning Point USA has faced problems getting approved on college campuses before, there have been numerous examples in the past several months since the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
The national free-market student group reports more than 100,000 people signed up to start clubs.
Chapters at Olivet Nazarene University, also in Illinois, as well as St. John’s University in New York City, have faced problems.
