by Grace Carr • The Daily Caller
An Iowa college’s student government rejected a conservative club’s application to operate because the organization allegedly didn’t conform to the school’s mission.
After Wartburg College’s prospective Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter applied for official club status, the group was denied the right to operate on campus. Founded in 2012, TPUSA is a non-profit organization that seeks to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government, according to the national group’s website.
“The Student Senate body were concerned that the values of Turning Point, as evidenced by expressed tactics, were not in line with the values of Wartburg College,” Daniel Kittle said, reported Campus Reform on Friday.
Kittle wrote in an email to members of the club that he would be happy to work with students to advance a “new student organization that supports their agenda to increase conservative dialogue.”
“We worked really hard with the subcommittee, and made a lot of changes to make them comfortable with our organization,” TPUSA Iowa and Minnesota Field Director Ali McGough said, noting the group was disappointed in the student government’s decision.
“The Student Senate has closed the door for Turning Point at Wartburg and we were very upset because it should just be like any other decision you can appeal and we felt we were just stopped right then and there in our tracks,” Emily Russell, a Turning Point USA club member, said, according to KWWL.
No club has been rejected in the past four years at the college, according to Russell, but the Student Senate told KWWL that the school rejected a prospective club in 2016.
“One of the red flags for me was some of the tactics that the national chapter had,” Wartburg Student Body President Naomi Alene said, according to the local television station.
The club currently meets off campus.