UPDATED
The Massachusetts college continues to take action against the conservative student group
Emerson College in Massachusetts has taken another action against its conservative students by canceling the Turning Point USA chapter.
The latest action, derecognizing it as an official group, follows an investigation into the free-market student group founded by Charlie Kirk for handing out stickers critical of the Chinese Communist Party.
The school said TPUSA can no longer reserve space, access funds or use Emerson’s name because the club does not have an advisor.
But the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which has been assisting the conservative activist club, said members have reached out to more than 50 different full-time faculty members to no avail. The former advisor resigned from his role due to the controversy, the civil liberties group reported.
FIRE said that the frequent punishments and denouncements of the group likely played into the inability now for the group to find an advisor.
The university opened the investigation in September after the group handed out stickers (pictured) with a character from the game “Among Us” that said “China kinda sus” meaning suspicious. The character has the distinctly Communist hammer and sickle on it.
The university initially suspended the group, then acknowledged TPUSA’s criticism was directed at the government of China, not Chinese people in general.
Still, as reported by FIRE, the Massachusetts college placed a “Formal Warning” on the club’s record for a violation of the Bias Related Behavior Policy.
The disciplinary board said although the stickers were intended only to criticize the Chinese government, “handing [them out] nonetheless had a discriminatory effect” because of “the pervasive environment of anti-Asian discrimination that has developed over the past several years particularly in the wake of the COVID pandemic.”
FIRE asked Emerson to make amends by either assigning a college staff member to the group as its advisor or allow a part-time faculty member to fill the role.
MORE: Two professors threaten peer for advising TPUSA group
Editor’s note: The article has been updated with a correction. The group was handing out stickers not hanging up posters.
IMAGE: Turning Point USA
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