TPUSA Representatives Leave Usdan University Center After Unapproved Tabling, Taunts, & a Stolen Sign

On Thursday, Feb. 19, an unofficial chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) drew crowds when  chapter members set up a table at Usdan University Center with attention-grabbing signs and TPUSA merchandise. 

The tabling, which began at around 12:20 p.m., ended approximately an hour later, when an unidentified University student threw a sign reading “Dump Your Socialist Boyfriend” that TPUSA had displayed. Another unidentified student caught and ran away with the sign. TPUSA members were sporadically recording throughout the tabling event, with some footage being used in a subsequent post on X.

Co-founded by the late conservative activists Charlie Kirk and Bill Montgomery, TPUSA is a nonprofit organization that describes itself as working to “educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.” TPUSA is also known for its strong support for President Donald Trump. 

This academic year, a small group of conservative-identifying students at the University, led by Austin Bosch ’26, have been attempting to establish a TPUSA chapter on campus. Members of TPUSA have previously not tabled at the University.

The Argus confirmed that representatives from the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) and University administrators reported that the University chapter is yet to be approved. To be an officially recognized club on campus, the organization must have a faculty mentor and be approved by the WSA. The club currently lacks a faculty advisor. Bosch booked the venue through WesPortal’s Room Request function, which does not require approved club status. 

“A Wesleyan student had reserved a table in Usdan but had not disclosed that TPUSA staff would be tabling with him,” Dean of Students Rick Culliton, who was present during the tabling event, wrote in an email to The Argus. “Had the student disclosed what he was planning, he would have needed to work with the Office of Involvement and the Usdan staff before being approved to set up a table.”

According to University guidelines, students hosting guests are expected to register them and ensure all conduct is in accordance with University policies. The TPUSA guests were not registered. 

Present at the event were Bosch, TPUSA regional representative Anthony Romano, and Hunter Young, a recruiter from the Leadership Institute, a conservative organization working to “increase the number and effectiveness of conservative activists and leaders in the public policy process.”

Neither Romano nor Young are University students. 

The tablers displayed signs that read “Dump Your Socialist Boyfriend” and “Be the Generation That Brings Family Back.” Pocket constitutions and campaign-style buttons encouraging wearers to “Make America Healthy” and “Bring the Family Back” were available for students to take. 

Some students questioned the motives of the TPUSA representatives, as the group has been confrontational at college campuses in the past. Although the tablers were met with verbal hostility from some students, most onlookers simply paused to observe the commotion or pose for pictures in front of the signs. 

“Generally, students were just respectfully intrigued in the beginning, but eventually people started joking about stealing their signs,” Meredith Bell ’29 wrote in a message to The Argus. “Then, I saw one of them fly into the air, and that drew a lot of attention to the scene.”

Argus reporters at the event confirmed that Culliton was talking to the unidentified student who had caught the sign after it was thrown. Culliton did not speak about his presence at the event in his email to The Argus. The sign was taken by another student, which is considered an infraction under the University’s rules. 

According to Young, the group of students cheered when the sign was thrown.

Public Safety (PSafe) was also present at the scene following the incident, and were seen speaking with the representatives from TPUSA. Culliton confirmed that the student and his guests spoke with PSafe after the tabling and left campus soon after. However, PSafe was not notified before the tabling and was not aware of the event until they were contacted for assistance, according to Director of Public Safety Scott Rohde. Rohde declined to comment further, stating that the matter is still subject to a follow-up investigation. 

Onlookers described one of the TPUSA members as becoming aggravated after the sign was stolen. As the commotion around the table grew, the two non-University-affiliated tablers took out their phones and began to record students. The University does not permit independent or commercial filming on campus without approval. 

A video, posted by Romano to X, showed students surrounding the table with one student saying, “We cannot let this happen, bro,” and another mockingly singing the AI-generated song “We Are Charlie Kirk.” 

Heckling by students intensified, and other students attempted to grab the remaining posters. TPUSA members packed up and left at around 1:20 p.m. 

Freya Grant ’29, who was present at the tabling session, noted that she found one of the TPUSA representatives had reposted an Instagram post with transphobic comments. Grant reflected on the use of cameras at the event. 

“The fact that a guy who condones, supports and has reposted content like that came to campus today, filming us—a student body with a lot of queer people and a lot of trans people—and even without that, just filming people, period, is really concerning and weird,” Grant said. 

Grant stated that one of the representatives had earlier said that he did not intend to “clip farm,” the practice of intentionally acting in provocative ways to produce viral content.

Young disagreed with the concerns about his recording. 

“Part of taking out the camera was for safety,” Young said. “We are not looking to film people who we are in a discussion with. For us, the camera is to keep everyone safe. We began recording when students got hostile and we started to feel unsafe.”

WSA Senator UsZee McKoy ’29, who was monitoring the crowd, thought that the event lacked the organization needed to facilitate meaningful dialogue between individuals. 

“I think that the simplest thing that the students could have done is just walk away if they know that there’s going to be someone there they don’t agree with, that they probably won’t engage with,” McKoy said. “What I think TPUSA could have done is have it be a bit more structured so there could be actual room for discussion, because there wasn’t any discussion in the space.”

President Michael Roth ’78 weighed in.  

“Turning Point has views that some people find very offensive here,” Roth said in an interview with The Argus. “But as long as those views were articulated in such a way that wasn’t intimidation and harassment—and I think they can be articulated that way—then I think students should want to bring them. For me, or even for some faculty, to bring people just to see if our free speech bonafides are good, that doesn’t interest me. But if students want to hear from a very conservative person, or in this case, [someone] with religious affiliations, I think that they should be heard and debated, if appropriate.”

President Roth has stated that he has asked to meet with the student representative for TPUSA following the incident. The Argus confirmed that Roth and Bosch have scheduled a meeting.

“I don’t want him to feel like he can’t bring people who agree with his point of view to campus,” Roth said. “He has every right to do that, as far as I know…. I just hope that we find ways to let people have their say and also have disagreement in an appropriate tenor. That’s not always possible, but it often is.”

Akari Ikeda can be reached at aikeda@wesleyan.edu.

Blake Fox can be reached at bfox@wesleyan.edu.

Aarushi Bahadur can be reached at abahadur@wesleyan.edu.

Anabel Goode contributed reporting and can be reached at agoode@wesleyan.edu.

Miles Craven contributed reporting and can be reached at mcraven@wesleyan.edu.

Janhavi Munde contributed reporting and can be reached at jmunde@wesleyan.edu.