The student president of the Baylor University chapter of Turning Point USA began last Wednesday night’s closed-door rally by mocking participants in the “All Are Neighbors” event happening elsewhere on campus.
BNG acquired audio recordings of the TPUSA event held in Waco Hall that was closed to media and community members. Those recording were made by the NoZe Brotherhood, a secret society that is the oldest men’s social organization on the Baylor campus.
“Let me remind you that the ops are having an event not too far from here. Opponent, if you didn’t know,” quipped Baylor chapter president Peter Fernandez. “And I like to believe they can hear us, whether they’re outside or all the way at I- 35.”
“Let me remind you that the ops are having an event not too far from here.”
He then led the crowd of about 400 students in cheering for their cause.
And of the fellow students and alumni gathered down the road, he called them “however tens or twenties of people that are there.”
In reality, there were as many people assembled at the “All Are Neighbors” event as there were at the TPUSA event.
Nevertheless, Fernandez told his crowd, “The response to this event, despite what the Baylor Lariat might say, has been incredible. And the chapter has been absolutely blown away with the excitement from campus and from the community, though Baylor kept them out.”
As BNG previously reported, TPUSA and Baylor each blamed the other for changing rules about who could attend the “This Is the Turning Point” event.
The gathering in Waco Hall was “about something much bigger than” the one event, he declared. “It’s about having the courage to speak for yourself and to think for yourself and to stand firm in what you believe. That’s exactly what Charlie (Kirk) fought for and exactly what he died for. And that’s why this night matters so much.”
“It’s about having the courage to speak for yourself and to think for yourself and to stand firm in what you believe.”
The 22-year-old student recalled waking up in 2012 to learn Barack Obama had been reelected president — to his dismay. Much of the country is like his 8-year-old self, he said, not really understanding what they believe or why. “They have no idea why they feel what they feel, and they vote with the feelings. They hear the words ‘Trump’ or ‘ICE’ or they hear the phrase, ‘What is a woman?’ and they will explode. ‘Turning Point’ is another one of those trigger words.
“It’s kind of funny because I’ve been told I lead a white supremacist club on campus, but I’m not white. And neither is our vice president or our treasurer or our secretary. And I know that sounds like DEI, but it is not. They’re just very, very strong believers in the conservative movement. All of this has revealed to me just how misinformed or straight-up uninformed so many people are, both in this country and kind of at this school too.
“I believe the root of this problem is the fact that there’s been a great decline in civil discourse,” he continued. “People don’t talk about the issues anymore. ‘I’m too scared to be judged or canceled.’ So instead, we can find ourselves in a political monolith. We surround ourselves with people who think exactly like us. And I don’t mean we only, I mean everybody.”
Charlie Kirk’s murder was an attempt to stifle civil discourse, he asserted. “And it was on that fateful day in September that I realized the true role I was meant to play as president, and that was to facilitate conversation on campus, something I feel like we’ve all lost.”
After inviting “the ladies” to also participate in future TPUSA events, Fernandez led the crowd in a “USA” chant before showing a video celebrating Charlie Kirk’s life.