EXCLUSIVE: Video shows students vandalizing TPUSA leader’s patriotic poster at UW-Madison
A student was caught on video vandalizing Turning Point USA posters at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The chapter president told Campus Reform that this has been an ongoing issue, and said that four posters in total have been vandalized so far.
A video shows students vandalizing a poster on the dorm room door of Wesley Nickchen, president of the Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, on Nov. 23.
Nickchen told Campus Reform that this has been an ongoing issue. He stated that four posters in total have been vandalized so far, and that he plans to keep replacing them.
The motif of the posters is patriotic, and they came from one of Turning Point USA’s “Activism Kits.”
“It doesn’t matter if you are left, right, center, whatever your views are, you have no right to vandalize property that you disagree with,” Nickchen told Campus Reform over the phone. “You can disagree with the property without vandalizing it.”
Nickchen told Campus Reform that they tore down one “Embrace Patriotism” poster, followed by two more “Strengthen America’s Borders” posters. At that point, he decided to set up a camera to catch the vandals in the act, which he successfully did.
“I will always be there recording if anything happens,” Nickchen added. “I’ll make sure I catch, catch whoever vandalizes my stuff, and I will make sure that they’re held accountable.”
The footage depicts a college-aged woman tearing down the poster. In the background, two accomplices, a male and a female, laugh at the act of vandalism.
Nickchen stated that the environment on campus is becoming increasingly difficult for conservative students to navigate as public sentiment shifts further to the left.
“The student body is very far left-leaning, and I think that the faculty is also very far left-leaning, especially from what I’ve been told by professors that have conservative views,” Nickchen told Campus Reform.
He stated that this video was captured in Bradley Residence Hall at roughly 3 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 23, based on the timestamp.
“You can disagree with it,” Nickchen said. “But you can’t, you can’t break the law to justify why someone’s wrong.”
Nickchen said that he hopes the University of Wisconsin will treat this instance of political vandalism seriously, but he does not believe the university will treat this as seriously as it should.
“I hope they at least make a statement, because I don’t think that they’re going to do anything more than that,” Nickchen said. “I would love it if they did more than that, if they held these people accountable, but I don’t see them doing so.”
A spokesperson for the University of Wisconsin-Madison told Campus Reform that “if reported to either University Housing or the Office of Student Conduct and Community Standards, our staff follow up with resources and support and will investigate, if appropriate.”
