Baldwin Wallace University student speaks out on vandalism and hate mail over starting TPUSA chapter
A student at Baldwin Wallace University attempting to start a TPUSA chapter says students have repeatedly torn down the group’s posters and sent them hate mail.
The president of the school’s SJP chapter has also begun petitioning against the group before it is officially recognized.
A student at a university in Ohio is speaking out on the harassment she has faced for attempting to start a Turning Point USA chapter at her school.
Grace Pruchnicki, a senior at Baldwin Wallace University, is in the process of starting a Turning Point USA chapter, of which she plans to serve as president, but says that she has been subjected to various forms of persecution.
”We have people that tear down our posters every single day. We have people that have filled out a general interest form so that we can have a list of people to contact when we start having meetings. And we’ve had a lot of hate speech in those forms that people have filled out,” she told Fox News Digital.
[RELATED: University of Minnesota Duluth TPUSA chapter reports multiple death threats]
Pruchnicki says the group has faced this pushback before even being officially recognized by the university, though it is close to achieving that status, noting an influx of interest following the Charlie Kirk assassination.
”We never really got the momentum that we needed and the support that we needed, but this year after, you know, Charlie Kirk’s assassination, it’s such an unfortunate circumstance that it gave us the push that we needed to get this up and going on campus,” she commented.
Pruchnicki also remarked that various faculty members have supported the group. She said she has “many faculty members from all different departments on campus reach out to me personally and say, you know, they support everything that we’re doing, and if we need any help too that they will absolutely 100% help us.”
Despite the faculty support, the group has also been opposed by an existing student group. Carly Voltz, president of the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine chapter, circulated a petition in her personal capacity to stop the group from gaining official recognition.
”I started the petition to gauge how many students at BW would be opposed to a Turning Point chapter being established on our campus,” she said. “I saw that many students were raising concerns, and I wanted to have a number behind those concerns so that people could see that this wasn’t just a few students.”
She reported that the petition has garnered 198 signatures.
The school released a statement saying it is aware of the petition, but that it “does not influence” the process for TPUSA becoming a recognized student organization.
“As a university that values open dialogue and the free exchange of ideas, we fully support our students’ rights to explore and express a wide range of viewpoints,” a school official said. “Students are always welcome to propose new organizations, and any such application is reviewed carefully and fairly through our standard process for student groups.”
The university echoed this sentiment in a statement to Campus Reform, writing that although student organizations “must operate in ways that uphold the rights and dignity of others,” the school is not concerned that the TPUSA chapter would violate this expectation.
“We’re proud to be an academic community where students have a long track record of thoughtfully sharing differing perspectives and engaging in respectful dialogue across differences,” the school official wrote.
Pruchnicki remains committed to seeing the group come to fruition despite the challenges, saying, “You may lose friends, you may have pushback, but you have to keep your head up and just know that, you know, because you’re receiving that pushback just means that’s why you need it even more.”
All relevant parties have been contacted for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
