EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Bowie State demands students register 30 DAYS IN ADVANCE to table
Conservative activists recruiting for a Turning Point USA chapter at a Maryland school in October were interrupted by faculty members and instructed to pack up and leave campus, since the proper bureaucratic process was not completed.
In a video captured by Joshua Fox, a field representative for Campus Reform’s parent company, the Leadership Institute, Fox and Bowie State University student Olivia Talley were approached by two administrators.
“When you’re doing anything like this on campus you have to register through us and come through us,” Karen Tyler, Bowie’s senior conference and events manager, said.
The only catch for Fox, however, is that the paperwork is required 30 days prior to the date on which they plan to table.
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When Fox asks whether Bowie State is a public university, Tyler responds “it is, but we have a process here, and you have to adhere to that process.”
The accompanying administrator, Bowie Associate Director for Conference & Event Operations Chandra Hicks, described it as “a certain process that has to go through our director, our vice president, and through security,” citing insurance in the event of damage.
When Fox asked whether he and Talley could continue to table for the day, Tyler states, “no, we’re going to ask that you pack your stuff up and leave the campus.”
When the field rep asked what would happen if they chose not to leave, Tyler responds “Public Safety requests this.”
[RELATED: VIDEO: Conservative students told by police to stop tabling]
“We need you all to stop communicating with the students and go ahead and pack your things up,” the senior conference and events manager said, making clear that, otherwise, she would call Public Safety to have them removed from campus.
The administrators stood by as Fox and Talley began to pack up their tabling materials.
Bowie State spokeswoman Damita Chambers subsequently directed Campus Reform to a school portal from which the policy can be accessed.
Turning Point USA is not an official student organization at Bowie State, and Fox told Campus Reform that he and Talley were attempting to recruit students to join.
“I find it ridiculous that a newly forming student group needs 30 days-notice to set up on campus and recruit,” the Leadership Institute field rep said. “That severely hurts the chances of a group getting the required number of students to become a registered student group.”
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AlexTokie
