A “sea” of constituents is how Allegheny Student Government Vice President Joe Leszczynski, ’25, described the student turnout at Tuesday’s General Assembly. Students sat on the floor, lined the walls of room 301/302 of the Henderson Campus Center and spilled out into the hallway during a nearly hour-and-a-half long GA. Most attended for one purpose: To watch the Allegheny Student Government consider whether it would award ASG recognition to a Turning Point USA club chapter. In the end, ASG decided to table voting on the club until next week’s GA.
Guest Speakers
Guest speakers Provost and Dean of Faculty Jennifer Dearden, and Dean of Inclusive Excellence Heather Moore Roberson spoke to ASG about how the college will communicate the ongoing effects of changes in federal policy to ASG and the student body as a whole.
At the beginning of the presentation, Dearden explained that several of the topics they would be discussing were about “policy, not about politics.” Dearden stressed that the administration is paying close attention to current events and will continue thinking about how to meet any changes “proactively.”
“It is worth noting that while there has been a lot of activity recently, there is very little right now that the college is actually required to do,” Dearden said.
Dearden listed a few topics the administration is following closely, including recent changes to Title IX that strip protections for transgender students, immigration regulations that may affect international students and recruiting for prospective international students, and the freeze on federal funding which may affect faculty and students who receive federal grants.
Dean for Student Life Trae Yeckley added that protections in place for pregnant and nursing employees will be reverting back to standards from 2020, when those protections did not exist.
Because many policies and potential policy impacts are changing frequently, the college does not want to alarm anyone with constant updates, according to Dearden. She said the college is committed to keeping students informed and will continue to value student voices.
Roberson added that the presidential cabinet regularly meets twice a week and is now increasing the frequency of its meetings.
“It is central to Allegheny’s mission to create a welcoming environment for all Gators from all walks of life in our classrooms, on our campus and in our world,” Dearden said. “We are committed to remaining a school of access and supporting all students through graduation.”
Reports
ASG’s finance report, given by Director of Finance Dominic Juliana, ’27, totaled $5,496.04 this week, with $3,471.04 going to travel costs for Christian Outreach.
Director of Sustainability and Environmental Affairs Aidan McGrory, ’26, reported he will continue supporting the merging of the “green clubs” on campus. He also reported working towards a collaborative event with Students for Environmental Action next month.
Class of 2025 President Akari Brown reported continued progress on Senior Week planning.
Class of 2026 President Iris Styers reported receiving test proofs for junior class pins and implementation of Junior Appreciation Week events will begin soon.
Class of 2027 President Liam Shields reported progress in finalizing a students versus faculty volleyball game, confirmed to occur in March after spring break.
Class of 2028 Vice President Bella Spiers reported a meeting with their respective class dean will occur soon.
Leszczynski reported that ASG reports for the Board of Trustees and the Allegheny Experience Committee were completed and will be delivered next week.
New Business
ASG heard bids from three clubs in their first round of two weeks of voting.
Ghost Club President Daphne Womack, ’27, said the club has existed on campus for several years, but is now seeking ASG recognition to access ASG funding for on-campus activities and travel expenses. The Senate voted unanimously to approve the club in its first round of voting.
The Allegheny College Rotaract Club also unanimously passed the first round of voting and was represented at GA by Alexander Coccagna, ’27. The club is a chapter of Rotary, a global organization whose mission is to “bring together people ages 18 and older to exchange ideas with leaders in the community, develop leadership and professional skills, and have fun through service,” according to the Rotary website. The club will collaborate with the Meadville AM Rotary Club, according to its constitution.
The third club present requesting ASG approval was Turning Point USA, represented by President Ian Hutter, ’26, Vice President Braeden Means, ’28, and Secretary Robert Chirco, ’27.
“We’re here today to ask for you to vote for us to have a place for conservative people with our kind of views on campus,” Hutter said while introducing the club. “Right now, there is a Democrat club and there is a socialist club on campus, but there is no place for people with my mindset or my world or political views on campus, and we’re just looking for a place for us to come together.”
During the introduction, Means passed out information sheets which he said contained information “debunking some false rumors that are kind of surrounding our organization.”
The Campus was unable to secure a copy of the document.
While passing out the sheets, Means said that Turning Point USA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, which he said “legally means we are not able to back a candidate or political party.” Means further explained that Turning Point USA is a separate entity from a partner organization named Turning Point Action, a group that does engage in political activities like candidate endorsements.
“Turning Point USA is not affiliated with — it is affiliated with but is not a direct line from Turning Point Action where you see videos of Charlie Kirk or people,” Means said. “That’s not us. That’s a different organization.”
According to the Turning Point USA website, Kirk is the founder and president of Turning Point USA and a conservative podcaster and influencer with more than 5 million followers on Instagram. As recently as Dec. 20, Kirk spoke at a conservative conference in Phoenix sponsored by Turning Point USA. President Donald Trump spoke at the conference two days later, which was not his first time addressing Turning Point USA, according to The New York Times.
The club’s proposed constitution provided to ASG says its mission is to guide “citizens through developing knowledge, skills, values, and motivation to meaningfully engage in their communities to restore traditional American values like patriotism, respect for life, liberty, family, and fiscal responsibility.”
Following Hutter’s introduction, ASG senators approved four motions that created a total of 30 minutes for discussion.
Styers began the discussion by asking why Hutter, Means and Chirco did not want to restart the Republican Club that existed before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The main point is we’re trying to stay away from political parties,” Hutter said. “I feel like it’s better for dialogue because we’re not directly a part of a certain organization or political group. Yes, we do have certain political ideologies, but we are not, I guess, directly involved with either political party.”
Hutter proceeded to explain that the group chose to affiliate with Turning Point because of the funds and resources available to them from the national organization.
During the discussion period, several ASG members asked why the club wants ASG recognition, since external funding is already available to the group.
Hutter explained the club is not looking directly for funding and that the club’s main source of income will come from external donations.
“We’re just trying to get recognized for us to better have a chance to get involved with the campus as a whole and work with other organizations,” Hutter said.
During the discussion, Class of 2025 Vice President Eva Dillaman asked whether College Democrats is an ASG recognized club, and Attorney General Chezka Quinola, ’27, said it is not.
Several ASG members posed questions about Turning Point USA’s proposed constitution.
ASG President Ella DeRose, ’27, pointed to Article II Section I of the constitution that stipulates members must “remain in good standing with the national organization” and asked how the group defines “good standing.”
Hutter said members cannot be criminally convicted and cannot be “disruptive in any way or harmful to anybody.”
Director of Diversity and Inclusion Kaleialoha Froning, ’25, also inquired about Article II Section I, highlighting that the constitution explicitly says “membership shall be determined without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, veteran status, handicap status, or disability.” She noted that sexual orientation is not included in the list.
Hutter said sexual orientation is included in the “et cetera” at the end of the clause.
Leszczynski asked why “sexual orientation” is not explicitly enumerated.
Hutter said the membership requirement phrase was taken directly from the Turning Point USA website and that if it is a point of contention, he could add sexual orientation to the list.
Froning then clarified via a point of information that Hutter was mistaken because there is no “et cetera” included in the phrase. As a result, the current form of the constitution does not prevent against membership discrimination based on sexual orientation. Since Froning explained this as a point of information, Hutter was not offered an opportunity to directly respond.
Shields later added that there is an online ASG template describing to clubs how to define membership in a way that aligns with Allegheny’s Statement of Community. Shields said Turning Point USA’s current definition of membership is not aligned with what ASG requires.
“We’re very willing to make that change,” Hutter responded.
DeRose also asked about a constitutional provision that allows nonstudent “associate members” to participate in the chapter.
“Our financial guidelines state that ‘items and activities of the student organizations should benefit the student body as a whole,’” DeRose said. “I see a discrepancy here in — between having nonstudents from the Meadville community benefiting from the money that every student pays on their tuition that goes into the General Fund that funds ASG-funded clubs.”
Hutter said the provision would allow the chapter to build a broader community.
“It’s not for them (associate members) to take advantage of our funding in any way,” Hutter said. “It’s just for us to be more active outwardly with the community and for people to be more involved with us so we can be more involved with everyone.”
Several ASG members also brought up the Professor Watchlist, a project with the mission “to expose and document college professors who discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom,” according to its website.
Allegheny faculty have had first-hand experiences with the Watchlist in the past. On Dec. 9, 2022, Director of Faculty Development and Biology Professor Lisa Whitenack was added to the Professor Watchlist after she publicly spoke about her research. Her work partially concluded that there are far more white men on Discovery’s “Shark Week” than female and nonbinary scientists. In a Sept. 2022 article for The Campus, Whitenack said that representation matters and that “to someone watching Shark Week and dreaming of becoming a marine biologist, the message they get is that you have to be an able-bodied white male that does field work to be a successful shark scientist.” The Professor Watchlist cites this statement on Whitenack’s page, tagging her statement with the term, “Racial Ideology.”
In response to questions from senators about the Professor Watchlist, Means explained that it is a wholly separate initiative managed by Turning Point Action, not Turning Point USA.
“You can almost think of Turning Point as an umbrella company to all these other branches that they have, and we are a branch of Turning Point,” Means said. “So is Turning Point Action, and we are the nonprofit.”
Hutter explained the relationship similarly.
“We’re a nonprofit,” Hutter said. “Which means we are completely separated from that organization (Turning Point Action) in all ways.”
However, Means’ and Hutter’s explanations do not align entirely with information online. On the Professor Watchlist landing page, the website reads, “Professor Watchlist is a project of 501(c)3 nonprofit Turning Point USA.”
Senator Gary Murray, ’26, also asked the club representatives how much autonomy the group will have and whether the national organization will direct its actions.
“We have a significant amount of autonomy,” Hutter said. “We do work directly and report to a field rep, but she does not tell us what we have to do. We are not told what we have to do.”
During the discussion, Spiers raised a point of information.
“Our job as a student government is to protect the entire student body, not just the ones that we share political beliefs with,” Spiers said. “So if a club is going to provide a safe space for even 1% of the student body, I think it’s our job to bring it into existence. And furthermore, any club that promotes any political beliefs of any sort is going to ruffle somebody’s feathers.”
DeRose asked what type of events Turning Point USA plans to host. Hutter said the group is currently hoping to table, organize a dinner with campus police and host a debate with the College Democrats.
After 40 minutes of discussion, Brown motioned to table voting on the club until the next GA on Tuesday, Feb. 4, and Senator Lyra Lindsay, ’27, seconded the motion. Sixteen senators voted in favor of the motion and one voted in opposition.
Constituent Comments
This week’s GA featured several constituent comments, all of which were centered around Turning Point USA.
College Democrats President Zula Stenger, ’25, spoke first.
“I want to first start off with saying how much mutual respect I hold for these gentlemen here today,” Stenger said, “and I hope that regardless of your political affiliation, you can have respect for what they’ve come here and done today. It takes bravery, and I will say from knowing them somewhat personally and working with them through the election, they are people of character.”
Stenger proceeded to raise concerns about the Professor Watchlist, particularly regarding Whitenack’s addition to the list in 2022.
“I fully support the right of students to organize and engage in political discourse,” Stenger said, “but I believe we must carefully consider the type of organizations we bring onto campus.”
Cameron Medvitz, ’27, spoke after Stenger, saying ASG recognition of the chapter would directly undermine the values of the campus community and lead to division and high tension among students.
“I’d like to come today asking not for the barring or dispansion of a campus club that upholds Republican and conservative morals,” said Medvitz, who serves as president of the All Gender Equity Society, “but rather to shine a light on the partnership of a closed-minded, hateful organization that promotes hate and fear under the false pretense of freedom at Allegheny College.”
Thegn Penrose, ’27, took issue with what he perceived as mitigation of the link between Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action.
Even though the two groups are not legally linked, Penrose said, it is “purely a technicality,” pointing out that their websites reference each other and identify each other as related organizations.
“They’re (Hutter, Means and Chirco) essentially following a script given to them by the national part of the organization,” Penrose said. “The charters — or constitutions — for Turning Point club chapters are given out standard on the website and talking points about their relationships are also just given out as a party line. Personally, I don’t feel like a club that intentionally misrepresents itself, doesn’t understand its relationship with its parent organization — I feel like all of these are problems that make it sort of concerning. I would not feel like I would trust people to run this club in good faith.”
Milo Watson, ’26, spoke next, saying that Turning Point USA has a history of engaging in acts that are inconsistent with Allegheny’s Statement of Community.
“Conservative groups under that do have just as much of a right to ASG recognition as a group like the College Democrats or a college liberals group or a college conservatives group,” Watson said. “However, affiliation with Turning Point USA is not necessary in order to guarantee that conservative students have an institutionally-recognized voice and a space to gather or a way to connect with people on campus.”
Watson produced printed records of behavior he considered concerning, including news articles alleging Turning Point USA interference with student government elections at other colleges. The Campus was unable to secure copies of the documents.
Watson also asked whether the club would commit to enumerating in its constitution all the ways external funding from the national organization would be used and its definition of being “in good standing with the national organization.”
At the end of his statement, Watson urged ASG to pass legislation preventing any ASG candidate from receiving any monetary, material or intellectual support for their campaigns, as well as legislation preventing any ASG recognized political group from receiving external monetary, material or intellectual support from an outside organization.
(Watson’s statement is his own as a constituent and is not affiliated with any organization. He also serves as Layout Editor for The Campus. His comments do not reflect the views of The Campus.)
As Watson finished speaking, the 20-minute extension of GA past its scheduled ending time expired. Brown motioned to close GA and Class of 2026 Vice President Kenzie Hughes seconded it. Fourteen senators voted in favor of closing GA, while three voted against the motion.
Leszczynski encouraged all constituents who had not had a chance to speak to attend next week’s GA, where Turning Point USA will again be on the agenda for its first round of voting. Approximately five to ten students appeared disappointed in not having a chance to speak.
GA ended at 8:50 p.m. ASG’s next General Assembly is set for 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 4, in room 301/302 of the campus center.
