Catholic University of America blocks TPUSA chapter’s third attempt for recognition
The university claims it is ‘not in a position to expand our politically affiliated groups at this time.’
TPUSA’s chapter president told Campus Reform: ‘Never would I have thought at a Catholic university that an administration would be biased towards conservative clubs and organizations.’
The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. has once again denied recognition to the student-led conservative group Turning Point USA (TPUSA), which marks the third such rejection.
James Joseph Ong, the president of Catholic University’s TPUSA chapter, was told by a university official on March 12 that the school is “not in a position to expand our politically affiliated groups at this time.”
In a March 14 email, the same official told Ong that existing student organizations “adequately address the political needs and interests” of the campus.
Ong told Campus Reform that his attempt marks the third rejection for the club in years, and that he believes the repeated denials reflect a bias specifically against TPUSA.
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When Ong questioned the alleged policy implying a freeze on accepting political clubs, he was informed that “there is not a policy, per se,” but was referred to the Student Organization Resource Center.
A similar justification was given in 2021 after a long delay when former student Kayla Maloney attempted to establish the club, resulting in its second rejection.
“To the point [of] James’s numerous attempts to approve his chapter, I am again saddened and frustrated by CUA’s continued suppression of student interests and Free Speech,” Maloney told Campus Reform.
She said that the school may be “fearful of backlash” if it approves TPUSA as an official group.
Ong also noted that the TPUSA chapter’s Instagram page was suddenly shut down shortly after administrators instructed him to remove any affiliation with the university from the account.
While Ong said he complied with the university’s requests by removing watermarks, logos, and changing the account name, shortly after making these changes, he found the account was banned.
“We have absolutely no contact with Meta whatsoever and have had no involvement in anything related to [The Catholic University of America TPUSA] profile,” an administrator assured James in an email.
“Never would I have thought at a Catholic university that an administration would be biased towards conservative clubs and organizations,” Ong told Campus Reform.
Ong stated that 80-90 students signed a petition calling for the establishment of the Catholic University TPUSA chapter. “A lot of students–they want this club to be a part of campus,” he said.
He added that “The administration that runs [The Catholic University of America] should be ashamed of themselves for what they’re doing to clubs such as Turning Point [USA],” Ong argued.
Nursing student Felipe Avila told Campus Reform: “We used to have a TPUSA chapter, but essentially, the school’s position was that there was . . . ‘too much conservative representation,’” he claims.” He claimed that the university previously implemented a policy capping political groups at five conservative-leaning and five leftist-leaning organizations.
A university spokesperson told Campus Reform: “We review all new student organization requests with careful consideration of their potential impact on existing groups—-particularly in terms of membership, programming, funding, and overall campus climate. Several years ago, the University decided not to approve additional political organizations that are substantially similar in mission or focus to existing groups such as College Republicans, College Democrats, Young Americans for Freedom, the Progressive Student Union, and the American Solidarity Party.”
She added: “Additionally, we recently asked Turning Point (CUA) to remove the University’s name and official shield from its social media accounts, in accordance with our social media policy.”
