BUZZ
It’s ‘said a variety of controversial things’ and allegedly goes against Jesuit values
The student government of Loyola University New Orleans recently denied an “official university organization” charter for Turning Point USA.
As such, according to the school student paper The Maroon, the group will not be able to “access university fund[s] or reserv[e] campus spaces for events.”
In its article about the October 15 decision, The Maroon remarkably manages to skip over the actual reasons for the SGA’s decision. In fact, the article contains about as many words as the biographies of the story’s two contributors, along with that of its diversity, equity, and inclusion officer (is that like an old-style KGB political officer? Why is it even included?).
All we read of substance is that SGA Vice President Jessica Valerio said “her goal was to keep the [TPUSA decision] meeting fair and balanced despite the heated atmosphere,” and Student Senator Terrance Parker adding the meeting “was intense but rewarding.”
Interestingly, Parker also noted everyone around him was “on the same side.”
The Hullaballoo, nearby Tulane University’s student paper which linked to a very brief “breaking news” Maroon story about the Loyola SGA meeting, also doesn’t address reasons for TPUSA’s repudiation. It opts instead to provide a background of TPUSA and Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and includes a link to the wrong Loyola University TPUSA Instagram (Maryland).
But Fight Back News, which purports to offer “news and views from the people’s struggle,” did offer meat and potatoes coverage of the Loyola student gov. TPUSA vote.
It reports roughly 100 students “packed” the Student Senate to protest TPUSA, while TPUSA representatives argued they wanted to be chartered “to have discussion about our differences” and “bring about what we admired in Charlie Kirk.”
‘How do you know your chartering isn’t going to make people on this campus feel unsafe?‘
One student senator claimed “Historically, Turning Point has said a variety of controversial things – so much so that they had to be removed due to violence and hate speech.”
The senator asked “How do you know your chartering isn’t going to make people on this campus feel unsafe?” noting Loyola’s student body is majority-minority.
Another senator asked about TPUSA’s “Professor Watchlist” which the Association of American University Professors claims is used “to monitor and report faculty who disagree with [its] conservative ideas.”
“How can we expect you to not repeat this behavior?” the senator queried.
Spectators to the SGA meeting eventually were permitted to speak their minds. Environmental studies major Erin Gillen said it would be “distasteful” if TPUSA was allowed to have a chapter at Loyola as it has spewed “hate speech and divisive rhetoric.”
Rosalina Framboise, a member of the Loyola Students for a Democratic Society, said TPUSA stands in “direct opposition” to the school’s Jesuit values such as “care for the whole person and special care for the poor and oppressed.” Charlie Kirk’s past remarks about transgenderism and “gender fluidity” create a “hostile educational environment,” she said.
A Latino student (who admitted he didn’t know much about TPUSA’s history) claimed Kirk once said that “[Latino] people” are “part of a conspiracy for a ‘great replacement in white America.’” As such, the student wondered how Loyola could “charter an organization that explicitly promotes hate towards Hispanics?”
Four years ago, the Maroon published a pair of articles about how Loyola students were “frustrated” by an (apparently unauthorized) TPUSA table at the central student hub Danna Center.
Student Anastasia Small said the TPUSA table “contradict[ed] Loyola’s Jesuit values” and sent a complaint to school officials stating “the fact a peer of mine was made to feel unsafe on a campus” was proof Loyola was insincere about “being there” for students.
Then-student Kim Díaz said TPUSA “should not exist on Loyola’s campus” because it “spreads misinformation,” that material on its website is “racist, homophobic, and xenophobic,” and its representatives told her (“a female-bodied person of color”) that she is “not oppressed.”
“It just made me feel uncomfortable seeing this especially during Hispanic Heritage Month,” Díaz said.
TPUSA’s Drienna Sixto, who noted she also is “a female-bodied person of color,” told The Maroon such remarks were “baseless, offensive, and ridiculous.”
MORE: Loyola New Orleans students demand school divest from Israel and oil, hire more minority faculty
