We live in a political climate that is beyond inflammatory, where quick judgments and overgeneralizations make it hard to choose open, human conversations over accusations and pointed fingers. To create spaces for civil political discourse and activism, Asbury students previously ran College Democrats and College Republicans clubs, and currently, the Bipartisan Discourse Club. These types of clubs allow students to explore America’s endlessly complicated political system and to process and discuss viewpoints with other students. Not every attempt at a politics-related club has succeeded, however. In 2022, a proposed Turning Point USA (TPUSA) Asbury Chapter failed to pass Asbury Student Congress (ASC). This year, a new group of students is bringing it back to ASC, and with it, a new series of debates about political organizations on campus.
TPUSA is an American organization dedicated to conservative activism through high school and college chapters. The TPUSA website describes it as the “largest and most impactful movement for promoting freedom-loving, American values.” According to the student handbook, the focus for students is to “educate their peers about the importance of freedom, free markets and limited government.” On the surface, a TPUSA chapter might seem like a fine way for students to voice their opinions and engage in discussion. Beneath this, however, are concerning expressions of hostility within the organization.
TPUSA is marketed as an organization that promotes Christian values, free speech and civil discourse. Through my exploration of TPUSA’s website and handbook, however, I have come to believe that some of the organization’s actions do not reflect this. TPUSA’s graphics use incendiary phrases, including “dump your socialist girlfriend,” “broken borders feed terrorism” and “big pharma loves your bad diet.” TPUSA’s “Dean’s List” website refers to humanities classes that focus on anything other than Western Civilization as “irrelevant courses.” TPUSA’s “Professor Watchlist,” with the goal of “unmasking radical professors,” works to “expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” The “propaganda” categories include “feminism,” “racial ideology” and “terror supporter.” Among these “terror supporters” is Sylvia Chan, an assistant professor at Arizona University who dared to teach a class that simply examined social justice movements like Black Lives Matter.
This does not promote free speech or peaceful activism. Can we engage in truly civil discourse if we’ve already labeled the other side as “terror supporters?” Can an organization that views non-Western humanities courses as “irrelevant” truly claim to see the value in every human being on Earth? These dehumanizing perspectives do not uphold the Christian belief that we were all made in God’s image, a belief that Asbury University aims to promote.
In preparation for this article, I discussed some of my concerns with Eleanor Asbury, the potential president of the TPUSA Asbury Chapter. She made it clear that there are aspects of TPUSA and especially of certain Chapters that she does not agree with or want to promote. If Asbury’s Chapter is approved, the first meeting will cover what they will and will not do. The Asbury Turning Point leadership does not support the Professor Watchlist, nor do they want to promote hate speech. Instead, they stand by the University’s morals and want to find a way to bring them into Turning Point.
“Our Turning Point Chapter wants to be different,” Eleanor explained. “We want you to believe that we have your best interest at heart… politics are important, but Asbury is a community. No one wants to ruin that community aspect.”
However, even if students try to avoid certain initiatives, it is clear that TPUSA’s core values are antithetical to Asbury’s community life standards. The University’s community life handbook includes statements promoting self-sacrificial love, equal human dignity with the Imago Dei as “an inherent human quality” and a relational, hospitable community that works to embody Jesus’ emphasis on serving the marginalized (Matthew 25:40). Although there are some good intentions behind the student supporters of the Asbury Chapter, combining TPUSA with Asbury isn’t doable long-term if the goal is to honor the principles of both institutions.
Asbury already has a space for conservative voices to join in discussion, debate and learning – the Bipartisan Discourse Club. I asked Bethany McMullen, the Vice President of the club, to describe the group and its purpose.
“The Bipartisan Discourse Club is a space where students can discuss politics from both sides of the aisle in a respectful way,” McMullen explained. “The goal is to allow students to share their opinions while also learning from others with different opinions. We want to foster peace between people with differences.”
A key requirement for the Bipartisan Discourse Club is that the cabinet always includes both conservative and liberal leaders so that no single side takes over and dominates the conversation. As a member of the club, I can honestly say that discussions have always been respectful and that I have always left with new knowledge about both sides.
One concern that I’ve heard about the Discourse Club’s limitations is that it’s not an explicitly Christian club, but this is because the goal of the club is to be open to all Asbury students. Christian students are still fully allowed to bring their beliefs into their perspectives.
“Students are more than welcome to talk about their faith in relation to politics,” McMullen said, “as well as any other factors that play into their political beliefs.”
I appreciate the club’s commitment to ensuring that its discourse is open to all perspectives, especially since we are on a Christian campus. I also understand the desire to have a space where students can begin with the common ground of a mutual faith as they work through political topics. TPUSA is just not the right avenue for Asbury students to achieve this.
There has to be a more peaceful organization that we can choose. There has to be an organization that is not so misaligned with Asbury’s core values that well-intentioned students have to denounce aspects of its tactics. There has to be an organization that better models healthy discussion, debate and activism. And if there is not, then we should invest in what we already have here or start our own organizations, rather than tying our allegiances to a national group.
On December 2, ASC will decide whether or not Asbury TPUSA will become an official Asbury club. If you are a voting member of ASC, I urge you to consider whether this club will really be beneficial for everyone in our community, as well as how we can foster healthy political conversation on this campus.
If you have additional questions about Asbury TPUSA, you can email Eleanor Asbury at eleanor.asbury@asbury.edu. For more information about the Bipartisan Discourse Club, you can email club president Belle Forrest at isabella.forrest@asbury.edu.
Photo courtesy of NJ Spotlight.
Political discourse with human dignity: why we can’t achieve it through a TPUSA chapter
We live in a political climate that is beyond inflammatory, where quick judgments and overgeneralizations make it hard to choose open, human conversations over accusations and pointed fingers. To create spaces for civil political discourse and activism, Asbury students previously ran College Democrats and College Republicans clubs, and currently, the Bipartisan Discourse Club. These types of clubs allow students to explore America’s endlessly complicated political system and to process and discuss viewpoints with other students. Not every attempt at a politics-related club has succeeded, however. In 2022, a proposed Turning Point USA (TPUSA) Asbury Chapter failed to pass Asbury Student Congress (ASC). This year, a new group of students is bringing it back to ASC, and with it, a new series of debates about political organizations on campus.
TPUSA is an American organization dedicated to conservative activism through high school and college chapters. The TPUSA website describes it as the “largest and most impactful movement for promoting freedom-loving, American values.” According to the student handbook, the focus for students is to “educate their peers about the importance of freedom, free markets and limited government.” On the surface, a TPUSA chapter might seem like a fine way for students to voice their opinions and engage in discussion. Beneath this, however, are concerning expressions of hostility within the organization.
TPUSA is marketed as an organization that promotes Christian values, free speech and civil discourse. Through my exploration of TPUSA’s website and handbook, however, I have come to believe that some of the organization’s actions do not reflect this. TPUSA’s graphics use incendiary phrases, including “dump your socialist girlfriend,” “broken borders feed terrorism” and “big pharma loves your bad diet.” TPUSA’s “Dean’s List” website refers to humanities classes that focus on anything other than Western Civilization as “irrelevant courses.” TPUSA’s “Professor Watchlist,” with the goal of “unmasking radical professors,” works to “expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” The “propaganda” categories include “feminism,” “racial ideology” and “terror supporter.” Among these “terror supporters” is Sylvia Chan, an assistant professor at Arizona University who dared to teach a class that simply examined social justice movements like Black Lives Matter.
This does not promote free speech or peaceful activism. Can we engage in truly civil discourse if we’ve already labeled the other side as “terror supporters?” Can an organization that views non-Western humanities courses as “irrelevant” truly claim to see the value in every human being on Earth? These dehumanizing perspectives do not uphold the Christian belief that we were all made in God’s image, a belief that Asbury University aims to promote.
In preparation for this article, I discussed some of my concerns with Eleanor Asbury, the potential president of the TPUSA Asbury Chapter. She made it clear that there are aspects of TPUSA and especially of certain Chapters that she does not agree with or want to promote. If Asbury’s Chapter is approved, the first meeting will cover what they will and will not do. The Asbury Turning Point leadership does not support the Professor Watchlist, nor do they want to promote hate speech. Instead, they stand by the University’s morals and want to find a way to bring them into Turning Point.
“Our Turning Point Chapter wants to be different,” Eleanor explained. “We want you to believe that we have your best interest at heart… politics are important, but Asbury is a community. No one wants to ruin that community aspect.”
However, even if students try to avoid certain initiatives, it is clear that TPUSA’s core values are antithetical to Asbury’s community life standards. The University’s community life handbook includes statements promoting self-sacrificial love, equal human dignity with the Imago Dei as “an inherent human quality” and a relational, hospitable community that works to embody Jesus’ emphasis on serving the marginalized (Matthew 25:40). Although there are some good intentions behind the student supporters of the Asbury Chapter, combining TPUSA with Asbury isn’t doable long-term if the goal is to honor the principles of both institutions.
Asbury already has a space for conservative voices to join in discussion, debate and learning – the Bipartisan Discourse Club. I asked Bethany McMullen, the Vice President of the club, to describe the group and its purpose.
“The Bipartisan Discourse Club is a space where students can discuss politics from both sides of the aisle in a respectful way,” McMullen explained. “The goal is to allow students to share their opinions while also learning from others with different opinions. We want to foster peace between people with differences.”
A key requirement for the Bipartisan Discourse Club is that the cabinet always includes both conservative and liberal leaders so that no single side takes over and dominates the conversation. As a member of the club, I can honestly say that discussions have always been respectful and that I have always left with new knowledge about both sides.
One concern that I’ve heard about the Discourse Club’s limitations is that it’s not an explicitly Christian club, but this is because the goal of the club is to be open to all Asbury students. Christian students are still fully allowed to bring their beliefs into their perspectives.
“La La Land” — why we should move away from adaptations
“Students are more than welcome to talk about their faith in relation to politics,” McMullen said, “as well as any other factors that play into their political beliefs.”
I appreciate the club’s commitment to ensuring that its discourse is open to all perspectives, especially since we are on a Christian campus. I also understand the desire to have a space where students can begin with the common ground of a mutual faith as they work through political topics. TPUSA is just not the right avenue for Asbury students to achieve this.
There has to be a more peaceful organization that we can choose. There has to be an organization that is not so misaligned with Asbury’s core values that well-intentioned students have to denounce aspects of its tactics. There has to be an organization that better models healthy discussion, debate and activism. And if there is not, then we should invest in what we already have here or start our own organizations, rather than tying our allegiances to a national group.
On December 2, ASC will decide whether or not Asbury TPUSA will become an official Asbury club. If you are a voting member of ASC, I urge you to consider whether this club will really be beneficial for everyone in our community, as well as how we can foster healthy political conversation on this campus.
If you have additional questions about Asbury TPUSA, you can email Eleanor Asbury at eleanor.asbury@asbury.edu. For more information about the Bipartisan Discourse Club, you can email club president Belle Forrest at isabella.forrest@asbury.edu.
Photo courtesy of NJ Spotlight.