Student says she faces doxxing threats after winning battle for TPUSA approval
Wartburg College allowing students to have Turning Point USA chapter after previously denying it for going against the school’s values
Wartburg’s Dean of Students and Director of Student engagement originally stalled by refusing to sign off documents necessary for the application to move to the student senate.
The chapter president says that she has received threatening messages since her group achieved status.
The leader of a campus conservative group says she is facing threats of doxxing and physical harm after finally achieving official status for her student group at a Christian college in Iowa.
A Turning Point USA chapter was approved by the student senate in a 33-14 vote after years of effort to establish a chapter at Wartburg College. Chapter president and campus coordinator Emily Russell says she diligently worked for two years to gain approval for the chapter on campus. Russell says her goals in starting the chapter were to give Conservative’s more of a voice on campus.
[RELATED: TPUSA rejected for not conforming to school’s ‘values’]
Originally when presenting the TPUSA group 17 student senators abstained from the vote not fully allowing for fair and proper representation. This time student senators voted with ease. Instead, the difficulty came from the student life office, the Dean of Students and the Director of Student Engagement who refused to sign documents needed to move the application to the student senate.
While the decision to approve the group was made they are continuing to face hostility from other students. Since the approval Russell has been targeted on social media, including the encouragement for people to look for her address. One student tweeted, “A very sad day to be a @WartburgCollege student, where your elected peer representatives (@WartburgSenate) just voted to approve @TPUSA chapter. A vote against all just morals, ethics, & humanity. Graduation can’t come soon enough.”
Coon followed up with another tweet stating, “I get it. I get it. I do. It’s for sure really hard to be a conservative in America in 2019. Honestly, your voices are so silenced. SILENCED. It makes total sense to require the desperate services of @TPUSA at @WartburgCollege. Thank GOD bigots have voices now too.”
[RELATED: Harvard dean: ‘We need to be vigilant in ensuring no one is prevented from speaking’]
“Wartburg College claims they are aiming to increase diversity and inclusivity on campus and make sure that ‘you belong,’ yet they approve of organizations that stand for values that are not inclusive to diverse people. It is not a safe campus to be a black legal alien,” read another tweet about the matter.
“Faculty has remained pretty silent which kind of concerns me since my safety has been jeopardized and they don’t care,” Russell told Campus Reform. “Campus security is working with me to protect me, but the administration is staying silent about it,” she explained.
“Some girl behind me in the library [was] talking about how her and a professor are working to get TPUSA kicked off campus because it’s a hate group,” added Russell.
Screenshots provided by Rusell showed students saying things like “Let’s fight them”, calling to look up Russell’s address, and “Great to know that the school I’m at has approved this extremist group founded off of white supremacy, but they love to advocate for diversity and minorities. You’re contradicting yourself, Wartburg.”
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @Jess__Custodio
