A coalition of Baylor University students has petitioned the administration for permission to host an alternative event during the Turning Point USA rally on campus April 22.
The Baptist-affiliated school in Waco, Texas, has come under intense criticism for allowing the “This Is the Turning Point” tour on campus in Waco Hall. Scheduled speakers include Erika Kirk, Donald Trump Jr., Tom Homan and Benny Johnson. Other speakers on the published tour schedule include JD Vance, Karoline Leavitt, Vivik Ramaswamy and Matt Walsh.
Now, students representing five campus organizations have applied to the university to host an alternative event titled “All Our Neighbors.” Organizers said they want to celebrate and affirm people of diverse backgrounds.
Kelley Robinson
Invited speakers included Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a leading national LBGTQ advocacy group, and Paul Raushenbush, an American Baptist minister who serves as president of Interfaith Alliance, a leading organization promoting religious freedom and democracy.
The students have extended invitations to other faith leaders as well as faculty, including BNG columnist Greg Garrett, who was placed on the TPUSA “Watch List” for his work on racial justice.
“If far-right TPUSA is allowed to speak at the biggest venue the campus has to offer, there is no reason that LGBTQ advocates and folks who support more progressive causes should also not be allowed a space to speak and organize,” Baylor senior JW LaStrape told BNG.
“TPUSA and the ecosystem surrounding it are part of a well-funded push by the far right to advance a Christian nationalist agenda throughout our country. As such, it is important for us Christians who feel that communication, cooperation and dialogue with other faith groups is the best way to fulfill our Christian mission to come together and stand firm in the face of these nationalists who would rather seek to use Christianity as a force of domination, division and hate.”
Baylor senior Hanna Al-Hayek, also supports the student petition for an alternative event.
“It is no secret that TPUSA promotes ideologies of Christian supremacy and white supremacy,” she told BNG. “They are the same group that had to have an alternate Super Bowl performance despite an American already performing at it. Bad Bunny just wasn’t their type of American.”
“It is no secret that TPUSA promotes ideologies of Christian supremacy and white supremacy.”
The proposed “All Our Neighbors” event would “promote diversity, acceptance and understanding of all neighbors, not just the ones we select or praise but the ones that will always cohabit our planet with us,” she said.
And such a vision should be seen as a natural extension of Baylor’s motto: Pro ecclesia, pro Texana, pro Mundo, she added.
“If Baylor truly wanted to adopt any of these statements, they would not have any issues of any speakers. Texas is represented by so much more than just white Christians. Being for Texas and for the world means allowing Baylor Palestinians, and Baylor members of the LGBTQ community to organize. It means allowing all and any group that has been marginalized or oppressed to fully voice their opinions unapologetically on campus. Being for the church, or for Christ, is to fully love thy neighbor. Jesus never mentions who that neighbor was, because all are neighbors.”
The student request for an alternate event to the TPUSA gathering likely will place university administrators in a bind because they have sought to avoid criticism from conservative constituents by denying homosexuality is acceptable Christian identity or practice. The school’s statement on human sexuality still prohibits same-sex relations among students.
The struggle for inclusion at Baylor has been highlighted recently by BNG in opinion pieces, by an article written by Greg Garrett, and by reporting on a scholarly lecture recently given by Baylor alumnus Skye Perryman, head of Democracy Forward.
To date, the university has not responded to the students’ request for an alternative event. The students say if the university denies the application, they will seek to host the event off campus.
Related articles:
Here’s what’s wrong with Baylor hosting a TPUSA event | Opinion by Mark Wingfield
Fear drove Baylor to allow TPUSA on campus, Perryman asserts
Why the Turning Point Baylor rally Is un-Christian | Opinion by Greg Garrett