The idea of Point Park’s own Turning Point USA (TPUSA) branch was struck down Monday, after SGA senators unanimously opposed a constitution formalizing it as a student organization.
TPUSA caused a firestorm earlier this semester after local organizer Colin Dowd set up a table for the right-wing advocacy group near Village Park. A sign of Dowd’s was stolen and insults were thrown — both in-person and virtually.
That, along with additional issues with the hopeful club’s constitution, did TPUSA no favors when founder Addison Windt, a first-year sports communication major and lacrosse player, and her teammate, Isabella LaVince, presented the club to senators.
Club heads are only present at these sorts of events on rare occasions, the last of which hasn’t happened since Sen. Samantha Laureys and other senators from the university’s Dance program — some of the Ballroom Dance Club — joined the legislature in the fall.
Windt, who said she and the whole TPUSA chapter were officially advised by Dowd, said she hoped the potential TPUSA chapter could make space for discussion of “free markets, individual liberties and limited government,” and added that she herself felt unable to have those sorts of discussions at Point Park.
Dowd was not contacted in time for publication. This story will be updated online after a request for comment is returned.
“When only one perspective feels accepted, people don’t feel free to be honest about what they truly think,” Windt said to SGA in opening remarks. “That’s not what college should be about. I don’t want other students to feel the way I did. I want to help create a safe space where people can speak openly without fear of being shut down.”
Senators and members of the legislature’s executive cabinet then questioned Windt and LaVince for about an hour.
Questions ranged from day-to-day functions of the club, to potential future tabling events and the role Dowd had played in helping Windt establish the TPUSA chapter.
Prior to finally denying them a formal campus organization, senators advised TPUSA to set up a Young Conservatives or Republicans Club.
The legislature’s conduct in the past kept them away from allowing officially partisan clubs, but a new precedent and regulation allowing the Young Eco-Socialists (YES) to get established essentially did away with that.
At multiple points Dean of Students, Michael Gieseke, spoke up. Gieseke advised the confrontational legislature to keep the discussion on the subject: TPUSA’s constitution.
Its advisor Dowd, who is not a college or university student and lives in Kitanning — a borough 47 minutes away from campus — seemed to be the most major concern.
SGA’s Treasurer Sam Fehl pointed out that Dowd had violated university policy with the tabling event earlier in the semester, noting a violation in standards of “decorum.” Fehl said he thought this disqualified the TPUSA chapter.
“I do not feel that as an advisor [Dowd] is appropriate to be welcomed onto this campus,” Fehl said. Windt, who said she’d helm the organization if it was established, added she’d be open to finding a new advisor after discussing the matter with Dowd.
Other members of SGA read hateful quotes of murdered past national TPUSA CEO Charlie Kirk and comments from a video Dowd posted of the incident at the tabling event, all of which bullied LGBTQ+ people, women, people of color and people with disabilities.
TPUSA’s missing gender identity and sexual identity clause, raised as an issue last week, was addressed. Windt said that the clause was missing by error, and that she’d submitted a sample constitution from Dowd, filling in the blanks where necessary.
As for the actual function of the club, Windt said TPUSA would likely host weekly meetings where members would discuss and give their takes on current events.
She and LaVince agreed the situation at the tabling event got out of hand, a rare point of alignment between them and the legislature over the course of the debate.
But that didn’t mean they completely wanted to do away with public tabled debates, as they raised the prospect a few times over the course of the conversation. Windt and LaVince said the club would try its best to avoid another blowout like the most recent table.
But senators questioned that, and wondered why the TPUSA chapter operated under such a controversial moniker if its function was seemingly so mundane.
Windt said the affiliation was to help connect with TPUSA chapters at other local schools, which their advisor Dowd also associates with. She added at one point that, if Point Park’s chapter were to be established, it somehow would not be funded by the legislature’s coffers — instead, by a cache of unspecified nonprofit funds.
Olivia Curti, the executive cabinet’s graphic designer, was not swayed.
Curti warned that another disturbance, similar to what happened at the first tabling event, was “going to happen” if the TPUSA chapter was established.
“Do you want to do this every week?” Curti said of the ongoing argument.
After the constitution was struck down, Windt and LaVince promptly left the legislative meeting. They did not respond to further requests for comment.
Beyond the failed TPUSA constitution, two other club constitutions were unanimously approved.
The AAPI Union revised their foundational document, removing a portion requiring payment of dues, which officials at the club said it had stopped taking.
The Ballroom Dance Club also revised its constitution, modifying it to be more of a guideline for the club’s specific functions.
“We essentially just changed it to ensure longevity of the club,” Sen. Samantha Laureys, a member of the Ballroom Club, said, “instead of how it was before, which was a little disorganized.”
Chief of Staff, Zoe Cybulski, and Director of Downtown Engagement, Devin Frank, also updated the legislature on the status of their Pioneer Community Week (PCW) organizing.
Goods for the Red Door, SistersPGH, and the Foster Love Project, among others, are slated to be delivered by the end of the semester, an effort of SGA’s PCW event earlier this month.
Riley Mahon and Sienna Wraith, the former president pro-tempore and parliamentarian, respectively, were both formally sworn in as president and vice president.
Mahon discussed his still-ongoing CulinArt survey, which he said has so far collected 53 responses. Mahon said he hopes to have 200 by the end of the semester.
There are no more SGA meetings this semester; the next meeting will take place sometime in September.
