The Elizabethtown College chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) planned to host an event on campus Monday, Sept. 27 that featured guest speaker Joe Basrawi. Basrawi is a representative of TPUSA, which is a non-profit organization that seeks to advocate for conservative values in high schools and college campuses. 

What seemed like a typical event for club members soon transformed into a controversy on campus and on social media.

According to the organization’s website, TPUSA was founded in 2012 by conservative activist Charlie Kirk with the goal to educate students about conservative beliefs and to organize and empower young conservative activists. The organization currently has 2500 chapters in high school and colleges nationwide. 

The organization is known for its “Professor Watch List,” which aims to expose liberal college and university professors for discriminating against conservative students.

Joe Basrawi describes himself as a Jewish conservative political commentator who actively works for TPUSA. Etown’s chapter had organized for Basrawi to be a guest speaker on campus where he planned to discuss critical race theory (CRT). However, the event, entitled “Critical Hate Theory,” was cancelled by Dean of Students and Executive Director for College Diversity, Equity and Belonging Nichole Gonzalez on Thursday, Sept. 23.

Etown TPUSA Chapter President Alexander Russo said that he had a meeting with Gonzalez regarding the event. The official reason given for the event’s cancellation was that the club did not follow the proper protocol regarding advertising an event before it was approved. 

However, in an interview on Sunday, Oct. 10, Russo explained some additional reasons for the cancellation, including having a “disruptive” speaker and fears that an event disparaging CRT would further marginalize students and divide the community.

Gonzalez did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. However, during the most recent Student Senate meeting Thursday, Oct. 7, Gonzalez addressed her decision to cancel the on-campus event, citing that the event was being advertised before it was officially approved. She said she was open to any feedback and questions from students.  

“We were extremely upset and discouraged about our ability to have our voice here on our campus,” Russo said. “We thought the [C]ollege was breaking their oath to protect and support all voices amongst their students.”

The reaction on social media was immediate. Basrawi tweeted the same day about the canceled event and Gonzalez’s alleged reasons for the cancellation. Student reactions ranged from relief to outrage.

“I was happy that the event was cancelled on campus,” senior political science and environmental science double major Dylan Kezele said. “Critical race theory is an academic theory, and [Basrawi] did not have the qualifications to speak on it.”

Russo noted that the cancellation went semi-viral in the conservative community, and he was pleasantly surprised at the support from students who do not necessarily agree with TPUSA’s beliefs but disagreed with the cancellation. However, he found Basrawi’s response on social media to be “extremely unprofessional.”

The story does not end there. Russo sent out an email to members of TPUSA to inform them of the event’s cancellation, but that plans were made to instead have Basrawi speak off-campus at the Moose Lodge on N Market Street on the same day as the original on-campus event. The event, now entitled “Cancelled on Campus,” also picked up two new sponsors, the Leadership Institute and FreePA, which helped with promotion.

On Monday, Sept. 27, the same day as the now off-campus event, Etown’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) released a statement on their Instagram page entitled “A Statement Addressing the Current Racial Climate.”

“…The Elizabethtown College Chapter of the NAACP will work every day to ensure people who engage in rhetoric that assaults marginalized and underrepresented students’ identities/livelihoods or hate speech rhetoric towards any identity will be held accountable for their actions,” it read. “Our call to action is to educate yourselves and your peers…Racism and hatred will only end when we all acknowledge it and attack it.”

Russo explained that at the beginning of the event, he gave a short introduction before Basrawi officially began his lecture. Throughout his speech, Basrawi casted doubts on Gonzalez’s qualifications regarding her decision to cancel the on-campus event and discussed his opposition to CRT being implemented in schools. He ended with a Q&A segment with the audience.

Russo called the event “a blast” and is looking forward to having more events in the future.

“I do not plan on creating further discourse, unless it is absolutely necessary, by having events off campus and criticizing the [C]ollege. We very much look forward to working with the administration in the future,” he said.

Looking back at the controversy, Kezele believes overall that the College handled the event the right way, although he wishes that administration had put out an official statement about the event’s cancellation to provide more context to students.

Kezele is also not happy with TPUSA’s presence as a club on campus, especially regarding the organization’s recent propagation of COVID-19 misinformation.

“I don’t have any issues with conservatives or conservative views, but Turning Point’s rhetoric is harmful to students on campus,” he said. “The club’s existence on campus is antithetical to Etown’s goal of diversity and inclusion.”