With practically everyone on campus aware by now, there is a Turning Point USA chapter on the campus of Springfield College. This has unsurprisingly led to tense infighting among students across the entirety of campus. I firmly believe that by allowing a Turning Point chapter on campus that we are opening a Pandora’s box that was entirely avoidable, but not for the reason you’d think.
Before any arguments are made, one thing should be made abundantly clear. I have full support for our first amendment right to talk about these sorts of issues and the discussions they pose. Just as the freedom of the press is important to me as a journalist, freedom of speech is just as important to those I may disagree with. That IS the beauty of the United States of America, and why the first amendment is so critical in discussions like this.
Freedom of speech is not where I see potential problems arising. As someone who loves to study politics and political organizations across the U.S., alarm bells began to ring in my head when I heard that Turning Point had a chapter starting on our very campus.
My feelings towards Turning Point have nothing to do with their stance on free speech. Let me make it clear that I’m all for it, but we as a country have seen the last few years what types of division these organizations can bring to a college campus.
I have a growing fear that what we have seen thus far was just the beginning. A simple announcement of a group meeting led students to form their own protest, which many saw last week in the student union. The fear comes into play when this story reaches beyond our small campus, and into a larger media space. Whether local news picks up the story, or enough people hear about it means that there will be a substantial amount of new, divided attention on it.
Why I implore everyone to tread lightly with this issue is that the moment someone within national media gets news of controversy on a college campus surrounding TPUSA, that invites a whole new set of issues. While the chances of that remain slim to none, especially given the size of our school, I can say that I have seen how national attention can affect these campuses. My biggest concern in all of this is that online media political figures get hold of this and it brings the spotlight that could be on our community because as I stated earlier, it’s a Pandora’s box that we do not want to see the other end of.
Rather than just complaining with no solution in mind, I do want to propose a potential solution to this tense debate. Instead, why not form a political forum club, open to all students? I see this as a potential solution because while TPUSA’s primary argument is encouraging free speech and open debate on college campuses, that is not necessarily where I see this headed.
Videos that tend to circulate the internet from a TPUSA debate often include deeply personal political issues, which has led to a ferociously strong divide into what people feel TPUSA is truly about. Because of this notion, an open political debate club would serve the student body far healthier than a Turning Point chapter simply due to the fact that it would open the door for more students to join and participate, without the fear of ostracization. This allows for those on all sides to properly debate without the spectacle that comes with a TPUSA meeting coinciding with a student protest.
To close, I strongly implore all of those involved to rethink the way to approach this issue. Keep an open debate club without inviting in an organization that divides the student body so deeply.