Fear is the only plausible explanation for why Baylor University is allowing Turning Point USA a platform on campus next month, according to Skye Perryman.
Perryman, who grew up in Waco, Texas, and whose father was a professor at Baylor, now leads Democracy Forward in Washington, D.C. Her nonprofit legal group is one of the foremost litigators against the Trump administration’s attacks on democracy.
She brought that background to Baylor’s campus March 24 as she gave the Whitten Endowed Lecture through the university’s Religion Department. The annual lecture series is designed to examine the intersection of Christian faith and public policy. Her speech was titled “Americans in Exile, Democracy in Crisis.”
Within the context of addressing the many threats to democracy posed by the Trump administration, Perryman said her alma mater is among the many U.S. universities succumbing to pressure and fear from the Trump administration and MAGA Republicans.
“We’ve seen large, powerful institutions — including universities — struggle to respond to the fear of the day and to find courage.”
“We’ve seen large, powerful institutions — including universities — struggle to respond to the fear of the day and to find courage,” she said. And that is evidenced in part by Baylor’s decision to allow its student chapter of Turning Point USA to sponsor the “This Is the Turning Point” tour on campus April 22.
She reminded the lecture crowd that the leadership of Turning Point USA — founded by the late Charlie Kirk — in 2023 called Martin Luther King Jr. an “awful person.”
“The speakers at the Baylor Turning Point event will include Tom Homan, who has overseen policies that enable ICE raids in houses of worship, policies that separate children from their parents, and policies that have sought to restrict the United States’ role — which it committed to at the end of World War II and that Christians for a millennia have understood as their call — to prove a safe haven for those persecuted across the globe. Love thy neighbor; give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free. No longer. Other speakers will include Donald Trump Jr., who has said women should accept sexual harassment in the workplace — or stop working.”
Turning Point USA maintains a “professor watchlist” that Perryman said “has almost certainly contributed to fear among university professors and administrations, creating a chilling effect on academic freedom.”
BNG columnist and Baylor English professor Greg Garrett is named on that watchlist because of his work toward racial equality.
TPUSA has dismissed criticism of its appearance at Baylor by “claiming there is nothing that it stands for that is inconsistent with Baylor’s Christian values and it is being permitted to come to campus because its values are consistent with the university’ s teachings,” Perryman said.
But she’s not buying that.
“I have been part of the Baylor community for a long time. And that doesn’t seem credible to me. I have to think Baylor’s leadership opposes many of the positions taken by Turning Point and certainly a number of Turning Point’s positions are contrary to the way many of us understand the teachings [of] our faith to be — the radical equality of people recognized by the gospel and the importance of taking in the stranger, the oppressed, the neighbor.
“It just does not seem credible that Turning Point is coming to campus because its views align with the university’s.”
“So it just does not seem credible that Turning Point is coming to campus because its views align with the university’s,” she said. “So perhaps the explanation the university would offer is that Baylor welcomes all — and is a marketplace of ideas. It may not agree with what is being said but it wants to make sure people have the freedom to express their views. That’ s something perhaps we could all get behind.”
But that’s also not true, she declared. “This university has not provided that privilege to all. LGBTQ students and their allies here continue to live under a policy that restricts them from forming groups, including advocacy groups, that are not in line with the university’s stated views.
“Last year the administration returned a research grant from a beloved legacy Baylor family to squelch and censor ongoing research about the experiences LGBTQ people and women in the church. Thousands of students, faculty and alumni, including the Faculty Senate and student government, over the past six years have spoken out against the exclusion of LGBTQ and other students from being able to advocate and speak and form community. Yet the university has held fast to its exclusionary policy, creating an uneven intellectual playing field.”
Perryman called Baylor’s position a “double standard” that privileges the voices of some over the voices of others. That is wrong,” she said, “and it belies any claim that might be made that the university is hosting Turning Point because it seeks to be a place where all views can be heard.
“There is just no way that one can credibly claim that Baylor can endorse some of the most controversial statements that Turning Point USA has made as “Christian,” while denying other Christians on our campus the ability to assemble and advocate for their own Christian views or to pursue research that seeks to understand the experiences of these church communities.
“Yet, that is what the university has done in refusing to allow civil rights and LGBTQ advocates to form student organizations and host similar forums — in returning a research grant.
“That explanation is fear. Fear of right-wing backlash.”
“Which leaves us with the only possible explanation of why Baylor University is hosting a sanctioned event in Waco Hall for Turning Point USA. And that explanation is fear. Fear of right-wing backlash if Baylor builds a true marketplace of ideas where all are welcome to express their views. Fear of right-wing backlash if the university dare treat the voices of our LGBTQ community members, or those who have the audacity to advocate for their LGBTQ friends, as equal to other voices. Fear of doubling-down on its commitments to civil rights, free discourse and true academic freedom. Fear of its donors. Fear of its trustees. Fear of the right-wing press.”
Yet Baylor “doesn’t seem to be afraid of the consequences of failing to address the moral issues of the day,” Perryman said. “Failing to be a light in the world. One that says we can be different. We can provide a space for all. We can truly live out the words spoken in our texts to love your neighbor. To not give in to hate. To not be afraid of doubt.
“Our faith tradition commands that we overcome that fear. ‘Fear not,’ the angels say. Giving into fear minimizes our faith. It is time for this university community to live out those words. To find courage in our community — and to move through this moment together. We can welcome all and treat all equally. It’s past time.
“This is not the time for the church or the university to give in to the siren song of performative peace. And it is not too late to get on the right side of history.”
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