Tulane University prides itself on intellectual rigor and fostering open debate through the free exchange of ideas. But the administration seems to undermine these values with the approval of the Turning Point USA chapter on campus. 

This is not a question of free speech. Students are free to hold and express conservative values. Tulane students span the political spectrum, and disagreement is not only inevitable but healthy in an academic setting. Rather, this is a problem of institutional endorsement. By recognizing TPUSA, Tulane has granted what amounts to a political action committee access to campus resources, funding and legitimacy.  

There have been political student groups before, like Tulane Right to Life, Tulane College Democrats and Students Supporting Israel at Tulane. Those groups try to foster in-depth and thoughtful discussions. TPUSA, on the other hand, creates a hostile environment for civil discourse to push its dangerous and ignorant rhetoric in hopes of drumming up a media circus with overused dog whistles.  

Take, for example, TPUSA’s Professor Watchlist. The Professor Watchlist puts a target on the backs of instructors who “discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda.” Some offenses that would qualify for the list are spreading feminism, “racial ideology” and “anti-Judeo-Christian values.”  

Being named on this list is a real threat to professors’ physical safety and mental health.  

Tulane’s TPUSA chapter was revived in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination in fall 2025. While no one should die for their beliefs, Kirk was ignorant, in both logic and social ideas. Kirk’s public record reflects a pattern of inflammatory rhetoric that prioritizes provocation over intellectual honesty. He was openly racist, publicly questioning the competence of Black pilots and demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of how diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives function.   

Charlie Kirk spoke often about how women should abandon college and their careers, find a nice “godly” man and bear children for him. How does that work at a college that has more women than men?  

TPUSA claims to support “freedom, free markets, and limited government.” Yet Kirk backed policies that invite government intervention into private decisions, like bans on transgender athletes in sports and abortion.  This contradiction exposes the hollowness of its stated principles and underscores its primary objective: preserving a narrow social hierarchy rather than preserving personal freedoms. 

Tulane should ask itself what it chooses to elevate. Academic integrity cannot coexist with professor hitlists. A welcoming community cannot thrive alongside organizations that publicly target members of that community. Tulane’s value of “knowledge for greater good” rings hollow when the university lends legitimacy to groups that trade in misinformation and hostility. 

I am disappointed to see Turning Point USA welcomed on campus. But the response should not be censorship or outrage. The answer to bad ideas is better ideas: examined critically, challenged openly and exposed for their flaws. Tulane should recommit itself to that mission and hold its standards higher than spectacle masquerading as debate.