William & Mary student harassed for reviving school's TPUSA chapter
A W&M student is speaking out about harassment she and other conservatives have faced for relaunching the school’s TPUSA chapter.
The chapter has been peppered with hate posts on the anonymous social media app YikYak, including messages mocking Charlie Kirk’s murder.
Students are allegedly facing a barrage of online harassment for relaunching a conservative organization on a prominent Virginia campus.
Olivia Keller, president of Turning Point USA at The College of William & Mary, recently spoke out on alleged harassment the chapter members have faced since reviving the group in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Keller alleged that the group has been peppered with hate posts on the anonymous social media platform Yik Yak.
“They’ve made comments about the exec members on the club, they’ve made fun of it when Charlie Kirk was assassinated,” she said.
The chapter was also protested when it held an informational meeting on Oct. 20 with a group of protesters standing outside the meeting holding signs with phrases such as “WE DON’T TOLERATE HATE HERE,” according to W&M student newspaper The Flat Hat.
“Turning Point USA represents a lot of hateful ideas and ideologies, and we want to make sure that marginalized communities on campus feel safe here,” one protester asserted. “Part of doing that is making groups that perpetuate [these ideas] feel uncomfortable existing here.”
Keller explained during the meeting that the group’s goal is “not trying to make people feel unsafe,” and instead said, “Our mission is to defend and promote conservative values and to challenge the narrative and stop brainwashing through open dialogue.”
This is not the first time that liberals on campus have targeted conservative student activists on Yik Yak. Campus Reform previously reported on multiple incidents regarding the school’s pro-life organization, Tribe for Life, in which one of the group’s displays was thrown in a dumpster and multiple chalk drawings were defaced.
Then-chapter president Skylar Culbertson told Campus Reform that she also was the subject of many hateful messages on Yik Yak.
“[T]he Tribe for Life president has an Instagram Reel calling WM crazy for having like a drag show and a queer + POC art gallery, two absolutely normal things,” one user wrote.
“Yeah she actively brags about getting hate. She def has a martyr complex even though people hate her because she’s a POS,” remarked another.
William & Mary’s TPUSA chapter is not the only one to face pushback for organizing in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September. A student attempting to start a chapter at Beloit College was edited onto Nazi posters, and the chapter was subject to a barrage of hateful comments and posts, including some implying threats of violence, Campus Reform reported.
Keller is not backing down in the face of this opposition, however.
”In today’s world, I think it’s really important to be bold about these beliefs,” she said. “And even if your peers disagree with you, in the long run, you’re gonna find your own community with people who have similar values and those are gonna be the more important relationships.”
All relevant parties have been contacted for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
