Baylor University’s administration has — perhaps accidentally — sullied itself by affiliation with Turning Point USA. The damage to the university’s reputation is significant.
In any space except the far-right MAGA-sphere, TPUSA is known as a political outfit tied at the hip to Donald Trump and lacking in serious claims to nonpartisanship or truth-telling. Founded by the late Charlie Kirk — ironically, with help from former Baylor President Ken Starr — TPUSA claims to promote free speech while denigrating and mocking those who disagree with their viewpoints. Charlie Kirk was notorious for this kind of smart-guy bullying.
Mark Wingfield
Why Baylor administrators ever agreed to allow the TPUSA “This Is the Turning Point” tour on campus remains a mystery. The tour is only stopping at six schools. Had Baylor administrators merely declined the offer, they might have heard some resistance from the far-right, but that would have passed. Instead, they opened Pandora’s Box.
And from the outside looking in, it appears TPUSA drove their bus over Baylor administration, then backed up and did it several times more. At any point, Baylor administrators could have said, “No more.” But they did not.
Consider all that has transpired since Baylor said “yes” to TPUSA:
First, granting sanction to a far-right political group with a record of opposing higher education and human rights sparked a backlash that forced the administration to allow a counter-event on campus. That counter-event broke the university’s longstanding policy of not allowing pro-LGBTQ speakers on campus.
Second, the day before the scheduled event, TPUSA pulled a switch on Baylor, announcing Donald Trump Jr. would not attend and would be replaced by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — a Baylor alumnus who currently is running to become the Republican nominee for this year’s U.S. Senate race.
It’s not just that Paxton is a despicable criminal who has abused his office for years, but that he’s a current candidate for office. Baylor has a longstanding policy of not allowing political candidates a platform on campus because doing so would require equal time for their opponents. That’s a thread that keeps on pulling once you start.
“It’s not just that Paxton is a despicable criminal who has abused his office for years, but that he’s a current candidate for office.”
Baylor administrators could have said “no” to Paxton as a substitute speaker, but they did not.
The university acknowledged the implications of this decision, admitting they will have to allow Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico to speak on campus.
Third, just hours before the event, TPUSA denied all requests for media credentials at their event. Keep in mind they had published an open portal for media credential applications. And that online form was the most onerous media credentialing process I’ve ever seen in my career. It demanded identifying information not only from the organization but from the individual reporter, including social media links and links to all articles previously published about TPUSA. It also demanded a 250-word summary of what the reporter intended to say — before they ever attended the event.
When reporters began getting denials of credentials Wednesday morning, we assumed it was because of ideology and the demand for conformity. But soon after, we learned all media credentials had been denied. There would be no media allowed in the room — at all.
It’s not like TPUSA hasn’t done big events before and hasn’t dealt with media before. Why the last-minute denials?
The enterprising reporters at the campus newspaper, the Baylor Lariat, noted the administration claimed to have intended TPUSA to allow five or six media outlets at the event. Again, who in their right mind could not have foreseen the massive media interest in this event?
It is hard to believe neither TPUSA nor Baylor’s administration thought this through in advance.
“It is hard to believe neither TPUSA nor Baylor’s administration thought this through in advance.”
Fourth, even closer to the time of the event, TPUSA announced the rally would be closed to all but Baylor students. No faculty, no staff, no press, no community members. Everyone who had signed up from outside the student body received emails and text messages denying their entry.
And then TPUSA had the audacity to blame this decision on Baylor administration.
“We made every effort to open this event to the broader Waco community, but unfortunately, the administration has denied our attempts to do so,” TPUSA said. “We reserved Waco Hall, a venue large enough to be able to accommodate the broader community, because we know how important Baylor University is to Waco, and we strongly believe this is the wrong decision by school administrators.”
Again, the folks at the Baylor Lariat reported this was not exactly true. Administrators said their initial agreement was to allow a limited number of nonstudents.
“The university was very clear with event organizers from the beginning that the event would be for students, faculty and staff only, with the addition of 125 invited guests from the organizing group(s),” Vice President for Student Life Sharra Hynes told the Lariat.
If that was the case, why did TPUSA create a website for community members to request tickets to the event, and why did TPUSA send out text messages to people as far away as Dallas urging them to attend?
Did Baylor administrators really not notice this was going on? If Baylor intended to limit community participation, why weren’t they monitoring this? The story just doesn’t add up — short of sheer incompetence or denial of reality.
Wrapped around all this is the fact that TPUSA claims to promote free speech and open debate. That’s always been a mirage, but the lie is now exposed. And sadly, it’s Baylor’s image that has been damaged in the process.
Getting in the bear den with TPUSA is like doing business with Trump Inc. Even a bear is going to leave with scars.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global.