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Turning Point chapter has been target of repeated hostility in recent years
In the days leading up to a pro-life event Wednesday at the University of California Berkeley, a student Turning Point USA leader said someone threw a cup of coffee on the chapter’s table.
Writing at Campus Reform, Berkeley TPUSA president John Paul Leon said he watched a student approach the chapter’s table on April 1 while members were promoting the “Women’s Rights or Human Rights” event with Live Action Founder Lila Rose.
“Wow, I’m interested in hearing more about this event,” the student reportedly said and then dumped “coffee across the table and its contents,” according to Leon’s first-hand account.
A short video that Leon posted on YouTube shows the individual walking away from the table with a cup in hand. It also shows what appears to be coffee soaking into piles of fliers, pamphlets, and other materials on the table.
The university police department’s records unit directed The College Fix to its media relations officer when contacted Thursday asking if an incident report was filed and if the matter is being investigated. Neither the officer nor the university media relations team immediately responded to an email Thursday.
Last week, the TPUSA club also received pushback from students while promoting the event on campus, according to a second video published on its Instagram page.
“I think abortion is murder and I’m ok with it,” a male student responded when asked what he thinks of abortion.
Another student told the conservative student group that society needs “more” abortions because “abortions are good. It’s truly right and just.”
“Can I come and scream fascist?” the student added when a TPUSA leader invited him to the event.
However, the event itself on Wednesday appeared to have happened without incident. Rose posted a brief video Thursday on X showing an attentive crowd listening to her make a case for protecting unborn babies from abortion.
The UC Berkeley campus has been hostile toward conservatives in recent years.
In November, a violent protest erupted outside another TPUSA event on campus featuring Christian apologist Frank Turek and conservative actor Rob Schneider, The College Fix reported.
A few days later, U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon announced an investigation into “Antifa violence and security failures at UC Berkeley.”
Dhillon also described the university as a “repeat offender in allowing violent thugs to disrupt conservative speaker events” in an interview with OAN.
A year earlier, in October 2024, an angry individual threw tomato juice all over a TPUSA chapter display that criticized gender transitioning, The Fix reported at the time.
What’s more, in 2019, a conservative activist with the Leadership Institute was punched in the face by an angry passerby while visiting with the TPUSA chapter.
MORE: Suspect who punched conservative at UC Berkeley finally arrested
