NYC College Student Government Blocked TPUSA Chapter After Kirk Assassination

In the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination earlier this year, St. John’s University sophomore Massimo Guerriero decided he wanted to launch a chapter of Kirk’s Turning Point USA group on campus.

The group’s student program “exists to educate young people about the importance of limited government, free markets, and freedom,” according to its website. TPUSA has a presence on more than 3,500 campuses and touts itself as the “largest and fastest-growing youth organization in America.”

The idea of a TPUSA chapter on the Queens, N.Y., campus quickly garnered student interest; Guerriero and his friends launched a GroupMe chat that was joined by more than 80 students.

But there were plenty of critics. On YikYak, a popular app on college campuses that allows users to anonymously post short messages to share with a hyperlocal group of their peers, Guerriero says he and his TPUSA friends were being ripped apart and faced personal attacks. So much so that the other three prospective TPUSA board members were dissuaded from participating in any public discourse on campus because they were afraid of the backlash.

Despite Guerriero’s best efforts, TPUSA will not be coming to St. John’s University, after the student government voted down his application for formal recognition as a campus club.

Guerriero told National Review that he is disheartened, but not surprised, by the student government’s decision. Students had tried several times, unsuccessfully, to start a TPUSA chapter on campus over the past decade.

But Guerriero had hoped renewed attention and momentum surrounding the group in the wake of its founder’s tragic public assassination would create an environment in which the group could finally be recognized at the Catholic, Vincentian university.

“There’s obviously an influx across every high school, across every college, where people are starting this out, and we thought it would be a great time [to try again,]” he said.

Guerriero and his friends’ first-round application was approved by the student government. They were allowed to then give a presentation to a student-led panel that has sole authority over permitting or disallowing groups on campus.

He says he and the fellow board members of the prospective TPUSA chapter worked hard on a professional presentation, which included content from the national TPUSA group. He and his friends wore suits for their presentation and confidently entered the presentation room to make their case for a TPUSA chapter, which they pitched as a group focused on non-partisan civil discourse, free speech, and Vincentian values.

But when he and his friends entered the room, they were immediately met with giggles — the first sign that his peers had little intention of approving his pitch, he says.

After the presentation concluded, Guerriero says he was met with negative questions from the student panelists, who expressed a poor opinion of Kirk.

One panelist asked the TPUSA students how they would handle the backlash to the “negative ideologies” that Kirk had espoused. Guerriero responded that the group’s purpose is to create an opportunity to discuss all topics, even controversial ones.

Another panelist took offense with a post the prospective TPUSA chapter had made on Instagram advertising a vigil for fallen American heroes it held on campus. The vigil was intended as an event to remember the life of Kirk, though Guerriero said he was forced to change the way it was advertised in order to have the event approved by the student government.

Sure enough, days later, Guerriero and his friends received what reads as a boilerplate rejection email from the student government.

“After careful review and thoughtful consideration, we regret to inform you that your organization has not been selected to move forward to the Senate Voting stage this semester,” reads an email obtained by National Review.

“Please know that we genuinely value your initiative and commitment to enhancing the student experience at St. John’s,” it adds. “We strongly encourage you to reapply in the future. Many successful organizations have achieved approval after multiple submissions, and we believe that with continued refinement, your organization has the potential to make a meaningful impact on our campus community.”

While the email doesn’t explain the reasoning behind the student government’s decision, Guerriero suspects it is because the students see TPUSA as a group that opposes the liberal orthodoxy that proliferates on college campuses, even at a Catholic school like St. John’s.

It’s certainly not that political groups have no place on campus; the university has a Palestine Solidarity Committee and a Spectrum club, which “represents the community of gender & sexual minorities at SJU” and hosts a yearly “Gaysgiving” event on campus.

The student government did not respond to National Review’s request for comment. A spokesman for the university confirmed that the student government has the “sole authority to approve new student organizations.”

“This semester, SGI approved four out of nineteen proposed organizations,” spokesman Brian Browne said in a statement. “SGI’s four-round Power to Organize process aims to introduce or revitalize clubs/organizations to the St. John’s campus. St. John’s students interested in Turning Point USA are encouraged to reapply to SGI next semester or pursue other existing alternatives for department-sponsored organizational support.”

Guerriero says there is no way to appeal the student government’s decision. His only recourse now is to ask the university’s business school to recognize them — though that would not offer them full recognition of their TPUSA chapter and would instead come with zero funding and would allow them to only operate in select business school classrooms, not campus-wide.

That’s what the school’s short-lived TPUSA chapter did back in 2018, though it quickly petered out without full support from the school that would allow the group to invite speakers and to use school property. With only the business school’s backing, Guerriero says the club becomes more of a social club than an actual recognized campus group.

“I want to shed light on this and force their hand on Plan A, because that’s something we deserve and something Charlie Kirk would have wanted,” Guerriero told NR. “That’s what he died for — these rights and for people to speak their minds.”

Guerriero also said he hopes to bring light to what is happening on St. John’s campus, as he suspects it is happening on campuses all over the country.

It is true that St. John’s is not alone in rejecting efforts to launch a TPUSA chapter in the wake of Kirk’s death. A student from Wisconsin’s Beloit College told Fox News the school is blocking students from establishing a chapter on campus. Louisiana’s Republican leaders stepped in to criticize Loyola University after its student government association also declined to formally recognize a TPUSA chapter.

Meanwhile, backlash at a public Colorado college led the Associated Students of Fort Lewis College to reverse its decision to block a TPUSA chapter on campus during an emergency meeting.

The struggles led First Liberty Institute, a Texas-based nonprofit Christian conservative legal organization, to put out a statement arguing that schools and universities “CANNOT decline Turning Point USA chapter requests simply because they are religious and/or political.”

“Because the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses prohibit viewpoint discrimination, Turning Point USA chapters must receive the same treatment as all other extracurricular clubs,” the group adds, before advising students who are struggling to start TPUSA chapters to reach out for legal advice.