By Michael Del Genio and Betsy Carreño
A recent push to open a chapter of the conservative Turning Point USA organization at
Dominican has sparked controversy on campus.
Turning Point USA is a conservative nonprofit founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk with the
stated mission, “to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government.”
The organization has gained immense popularity from its student-led chapters nationwide at various colleges and high schools alike, with nearly 800 college chapters. A senior student at Dominican University, Matthew Earley, a finance major, has looked to bring Turning Point to the University.
“Turning Point USA is a nonprofit, non-partisan group with the intention of promoting civil discourse and bringing productive conversation back to America. We value free speech. Wevalue the American Constitution, what it means to be a true American, incorporating some Christian values in it as well,” Earley says.
The attempt to bring Turning Point to the Dominican has been met with a lot of backlash due to the controversial nature of the organization and its founder, Charlie Kirk. Kirk, who was murdered last month, has in the past voiced his support for ICE, another controversial government program that typically targets people of Hispanic heritage. As of 2024, Dominican University is home to 69% Hispanic students, with the incoming class, freshmen, and transfers being a staggering 74.6%.
Earley affirms that, “the goal of this club is to be a social club. I think some people may agree that there is a group of people who are scared to speak up about their own values because their fear, because of fear of backlash or harmful things said about them. So, we wanted to provide an opportunity for those with more conservative views or Christian views to feel comfortable sharing those thoughts with like-minded individuals. If people do disagree with us and what we stand for, it could just be a normal conversation, questioning me, challenging me, and I’d be challenging you on your beliefs. We’re not here to persuade. We’re here to inform and bring back conversation, really preaching on that First Amendment, the freedom of speech.”
The First Amendment, when regarding different universities, becomes a little gray depending on whether or not the school is a public or private institution. Dominican University is a private university, meaning it has a different relationship to the First Amendment than public universities.
With Dominican being home to a large population of Hispanic students, it’s become a sanctuary school as well as a registered Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). The idea of Turning Point at Dominican has alarmed many students, especially considering the ongoing and increasing ICE raids in the Chicagoland area.
However, Earley explains that it’s about dialogue, “We are here to promote healthy and productive conversation.” The key to promoting healthy and productive conversation in Turning Point is through a process they call ‘tabling.’ “We’d set up a table with pamphlets on different ideologies. We have conservatism, socialism, communism, and liberalism. We have all this information out there that we’re here to inform…They can either join the club, ask questions about the club, or bring up a topic to us thatthey would like to debate. It’s a two-fold thing. Learn more about the club or join or engage in civil debate.”
Despite the rising controversy of Turning Point at Dominican, the process of a chapter launch is quite lengthy, with not only the conservative organization but the university itself.
“Turning Point has a link on their website to apply for a chapter at a university. I was put in contact with them and was instructed to find a vice president, a secretary. I got my board and then I contacted the representative from Turning Point, had a couple of meetings, and we set up the Instagram account,” Earley explains. “There’s not officially a chapter, in the sense that there’s not a club yet. We don’t have registered student organization (RSO) status on campus yet.
We need a faculty advisor for that. So, we’re in the very beginning stages of this chapter. There are a lot more steps that have to come.” Student Government President Tatiana Vasquez explained the process of opening a national organization, along with the support they offer to students, “As SGA President, I can’t speak from my personal opinion, but we’re here to support all organizations as long as they follow all policies, going through the required form of how to start a club. As of now, they’re not a registered student organization. They have to go through the policy, have an advisor, and get approval. Everyone has the right to do that, no matter where we stand politically.”
Vasquez also explained that the Chapter would have restrictions as an official RSO since RSOs are required to uphold Dominican’s mission and values. If an RSO does not uphold the mission and values of Dominican, consequences are issued. As Vasquez states, “There would be no room on campus to promote hate. We hope that this brings students some reassurance.”
The Dominican Star contacted Michael Greco, Vice President of SGA, who expressed interest in being a part of bringing the chapter to Dominican. He declined to comment.
Earley expresses that he is optimistic about getting approval from Dominican to begin the chapter.
Obtaining a faculty advisor has become a progressively more difficult task nationwide due to the Turning Point-funded project ‘Professor Watchlist,’ with the mission statement being, “to expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” Turning Point, however, maintains its position on its Professor Watchlist ‘About Us’ page that “TPUSA will continue to fight for free speech and the right of professors to say whatever they believe; however, students, parents, and alumni deserve to know the specific incidents and names of professors that advance a radical agenda in our lecture halls.”
There are currently no listed professors at Dominican University; however, hundreds of professors nationwide are ‘featured’ on the website.
Earley is confident in being able to get Dominican’s support and notes he has gained full support of Turning Point.
“We have full support of Turning Point USA, which I’m very appreciative of them, and their support in us. We just need to somehow find a way to get the school on board and get a faculty advisor to be willing to stand up for us and have our backs on this and make us an RSO club.”
The process has not come quietly, as the launch of Turning Point USA at Dominican University’s Instagram has drawn a lot of unwelcome attention both on social media apps and the university.
Parker Linnig, a second-year student at Dominican, had serious doubts about Turning Point: “Turning Point, to some people, sounds good, but they promote a lot of hate speech. They have called for many people’s extermination, and that’s not great anywhere.”
Linnig wasn’t the only student who felt this way. Santi Brito, a third-year student at Dominican, said, “obviously, people have the freedom to form their own groups and speak their own opinions, but with Turning Point, the ideologies go against what Dominican was founded on…The foundations of Turning Point, what Charlie Kirk would talk about, those ideologies should not be on campus at all.”
Vasquez states, “Students have already come to me about this. This is a place where they can bring their concerns. We can’t do as much as they ask us to do, but we want to hear what they [students] have to say; we want to give them reassurance. They can go to one of our SGA meetings, and we welcome and encourage students to do this. They can also come to me personally. I’m open to talking to students one-on-one and reassure them that they’re safe on campus, and if that’s not the case, we’re here to work on that… We’re here to promote an inclusive life for students to prosper here.”
When asking Gabe Lara, Vice President of Student Success and Engagement, what Dominican’s mission was, he stated, “I would say that we go off of our Caritas Veritas, love and truth, serving marginalized communities and helping students succeed in college. Helping thosethat are less fortunate in succeeding. I would say that’s the overall goal and mission at Dominican.”
Assistant Vice President of the Hispanic-Serving and Culturally Sustaining Initiatives, Jaqueline Neri Arias, was asked if the mission statements of Turning Point USA and Dominican as an HSI were aligned.
“Just a mission statement is not enough to say they are aligned with Dominican’s mission because it’s about actions… It’s not enough for me to just respect the mission to say this is it, you have to look at what we do as an HSI to live out that mission daily, so it’s the same for Turning Point… it will take much more than to just look at their mission,” she said.
Brito, however, explains what the opening of the chapter feels like: “This is a slap in the face to our undocumented students, our students of color, and our students who are LGBTQ.”
Additionally, numerous students at Dominican University have taken to a popular anonymous posting app known as ‘Fizz’ to express their opinion on not only the organization but Matthew Earley himself.
The site has been flooded with roughly a hundred negative comments. They claimed to expose the followers of the Instagram account and left angry, hostile posts for anyone tied to it.
Earley has been at the center of the app’s posts, with comments being made about his character and his family alike.
“It sucked seeing a lot of those things. I’m human, I’m a 22-year-old college student at the same university as everybody else, trying to stand up for what I believe in… I can take a little backlash in my actions. But now, once my family got involved, once people started digging in way deeper about my LinkedIn, my Instagram profile, every single person that was following the account (tpusa_dominicanu), it became a little bit too far for me.”
With the potential club receiving a plethora of hate, they remain awaiting RSO status and an endorsement from a faculty advisor. The Dominican Star is following this as it unfolds. For more information, check the website.
Joseph Zuniga contributed to this report.
mdelgenio@my.dom.edu
bcarreno@my.dom.edu
jzuniga1@my.dom.edu
So is the Dominican administration going to shut down the targeted harassment of a single student who wants to start an organization on campus like they put pressure the Dominican Confessions page where the worst thing people was was where they had sex on campus? Or is this situation different because that one student happens to have a different opinion?
There is a reason why it’s only a single student who wants to start this hateful organization, it goes against morals and values and is not just a different opinion.
In what way? You can’t just make that accusation and not back it up.
Sounds like someone supports cyber-bullying.
Why on god’s green earth would this be established at Dominican, they outwardly support ICE and knowing full well this is an HSI with undocumented students this can be taken as an attack, lets be serious now. If you want to talk about your politics thats fine just make a different club surrounding that, no one is holding you back from speaking.
Translation: You can speak your opinion… No, not like that.
This is actually borderline scary. Being a Hispanic serving school and understanding the current situation amongst the many families suffering from immigration services that Charlie Kirk has proudly spoken about, I would assume that a program like this wouldn’t be welcome in this institution. He can have a an opinion and that is completely his right, however to piggy back off of a project like this one and try to give it a “prettier” light is so cynical to me.
Don’t come into the country illegally and you won’t be scared. It’s that simple.
Oh baby. Bold of you to assume that those coming into the country illegally are the only ones scared. His ideology has gone against every minority, so even those here before YOUR settling here, (hint hint Native Americans) are also scared. It’s that simple.
Oh baby. You’re acting like the president is a supreme leader. Any elementary school social studies class will tell you about the three branches of government, checks and balances, etc.
Either give a clear example or rethink your ideology. It’s that simple.
You made no point and where did I mention the president. I won’t argue with an anonymous.
So who were you referring to when you said “his”?
As a Latino student attending this school, who comes from parents who came here legally, im up for the school to allow this organization or group to be part of. Im a libertarian so either way, i dont mind listening to this group’s opinions on the topics that are trending here in the U.S.