Do any universities sponsor TPUSA?
According to the AI search:
High school chapters: Over 1,200+
College chapters: Over 900+ chapters
The organization overall claims a presence on over 3,500 campuses (high schools and colleges combined), with more than 2,000 student groups and additional faith-based groups (over 800+). Some sources note totals around 4,400+ high schools and universities combined, but the breakdown consistently points to the figures above for active chapters.
If external forces from any political direction are allowed to eat up disproportionate amounts of any university president's time, then this is a recipe for undermining higher education while scoring cheap partisan points. Valpo cannot afford to get swallowed up by these distractions, not when its core future is on the line, as many of us here of different political and social points of view have observed in the lead up to the appointment of a new president.
So long as the university's rules for establishing student organizations are clearly articulated and fairly applied, the conversation should stop there. If the rules need changing, then change them. If the rules need to be applied more fairly, then put someone in charge who will do so. To the degree possible, this noise has to be kept off of the president's desk.
In the meantime, I'm thrilled to read President Konkol's account of his first weeks at Valpo. Since we began discussing this presidential search, I've said that VU's next president has to be an "all-in" leader who is present within and outside the university, someone who sees this opportunity as a destination appointment. We're seeing very encouraging signs that he is such a leader:
https://www.valpo.edu/leading-with-heart-valpos-new-president-leaps-into-campus-life/
David beat me to posting this great story about President Konkol's first months on campus.
https://www.valpo.edu/leading-with-heart-valpos-new-president-leaps-into-campus-life/
It is a very interesting read and a sure sign that we've got a "younger man" at the helm when reading about him actually living in the dorms!
It would also appear that he is on a strong path to regaining the trust and support of the faculty which of course had be shattered by his predecessor. Looking forward to meeting him at some point as he makes the rounds of alumni gatherings across the nation. A wonderful start!
@vu72 I chatted with him at the game last night, and he couldn’t have been more willing to talk. He’s very available and approachable—the smile on his face says, my door is open and I’m listening. These are the traits of a successful leader in today's world. I jokingly told him that if he was going to sit front row on my side of the court, he was going to have to step up his fandom game a bit. He laughed and genuinely seemed excited to meet my expectations I set for himself. 
My current impression is that the ship is in much better hands.
And further on the bright side, the Turning Point crew seem to have gotten bored with Valpo and stopped clogging the comments. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
The article describes a very impressive and humble guy. Rotating dorm housing and rotating through offices is brilliant. Sparing creature comforts to make a point. But he's also a wise man if he is planning to shortly return to a home with Mrs. Konkol after the break. Haha.
The bowtie is just such a fun and cool linkage to Orville Redenbacher and traditional gentlemen scholars of yore.
Update from the Indy Star: Apparently the administration quickly realized this was a public relations misstep and reached out only one hour after the social media post to recommend an appeals process. Valparaiso University states that the rejection of the TPUSA chapter was an error due to a misunderstanding of a university policy that "does not apply to student organizations," and the Student Senate will reconsider the application.
Indiana college steps in after Turning Point chapter denied
An effort to re-establish a Turning Point USA chapter at Valparaiso University was recently rejected, gaining the attention of state Republican leaders.
However, the university told IndyStar in a statement that student leaders misunderstood a policy when denying the club, and its application will be reconsidered at a future meeting.
Freshman and co-organizer Noah Meister applied to restart a TPUSA chapter at his small private college in Northwest Indiana last October, saying he wanted to create a protected space to talk about conservative values and other issues. The club previously existed on campus but needed to be re-chartered for logistical reasons.
After a meeting in front of the Valparaiso Student Senate in early February, student leaders denied their application. In an email shared with IndyStar, they said TPUSA is too strongly connected to a political party, which would violate a university policy requiring student organizations to remain nonpartisan. The email encouraged the students to start a club, unrelated to TPUSA, to create discussion on political topics.
"Although your organization aims to be a place to foster discussion and discourse around political topics, which is a function that would largely benefit campus and the education of its students, the national organization, TPUSA, is heavily affiliated with a specific political party," the email reads.
The university, however, said that policy does not apply to student organizations. After the administration provided clarification, the student senate decided to revisit the proposal. Student government approves and denies clubs, not the administration.
However, before the misunderstanding was cleared up, the situation was brought to the attention of Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, who critiqued the university in an X post. In a graphic, he compared TPUSA to other accepted clubs, including the Muslim Student Association and LGBTQ+ student organization Alliance.
An hour after Beckwith posted about the situation, an administrator reached out to Meister and his co-organizer to offer information on the appeals process. It's unclear what that process would look like, Meister said, since there is no posted policy.
The student senate did not respond to an IndyStar request for comment.
Indiana Republican leaders are solidifying a partnership with TPUSA that would strive to start chapters in every school and punish those who block their creation, IndyStar reported earlier this month. Indiana would be one of seven states to mint such an agreement, the terms of which aren't entirely clear.
A private university is not bound by the First Amendment, which means those colleges have a wide ability to ban and stifle student speech. That includes on-campus student clubs.
When asked if this partnership would punish private universities, Jeff Boggs, a spokesperson for the lieutenant governor, said he was looking into it. TPUSA spokespeople did not respond to IndyStar's question.
Valparaiso is the second private Indiana college to recently block a TPUSA chapter. Saint Mary’s College long denied the creation of the club, calling its views “hateful” and “bigoted," according to Notre Dame's conservative student newspaper. The school then approved the club in December.
Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in September while speaking at a Utah university, established Turning Point USA in 2012 to encourage young people to engage in free speech and advocate for conservative policies. Kirk's killing propelled the organization into the national consciousness, resulting in an influx of new campus chapters and overall membership.
In Valparaiso, Meister said he will continue trying to have a relationship with the school while pushing for approval. He said he thinks this chapter is something his campus needs and is demonstrated through the 30 to 40 students showing interest. He and TPUSA are working to overturn the student senate denial.
"We can be a model of what it takes to really stand for this freedom of expression, First Amendment rights," he said.
"HIstory Community Opportunity" Simple and powerful. Great work.
You can tell that Valpo is in his heart. Vision can take you to a destiny. While there will be tons of pragmatic hurdles, mostly enrollment and financial ones, raising faculty and student morale will help them all row in the same direction and navigate the next 3-4 crucial years starting July 1, 2026.
Valpo needs to re-engage its history and the vision of OPK that Valpo be Athens and Jerusalem. If you listen or read the speech Marco Rubio delivered in Munich to NATO, he faces the painful demographic and NATO issues, but he does it in a way that is incredibly inspiring. He celebrates our European-American joint heritage rather than apologizing for it or slinging mud.
There is currently no neutral space in academia for religious and political dialog and that is a void Valpo is historically set out to provide. I think people would flock to it, once they understand it and find VU credible as a forum.
It seems (gratefully) like Valpo is not getting a TP chapter, but state media seems intent on picking at the scab:
In other words: snowflake has feelings hurt, film at 11.
It seems (gratefully) like Valpo is not getting a TP chapter, but state media seems intent on picking at the scab:
This decision is an unforced error that was unnecessary since TP already had existed on campus and apparently was required to re-apply only for logistical reasons. I see this as a mistake, not due to politics (especially since other campus groups engage in political activities) but more of a lost opportunity to appeal to a wider network of prospective Christian students. Especially now—during the peak of admission signings during a down period of enrollment and since TP is so popular with over 1,000 high school chapters from which the university could recruit students—this seems unfortunate. Instead of welcoming those students, like 800 other universities, they are alienated, Valparaiso's reputation is again tainted by controversy, and the school receives further negative media coverage as the only Indiana university to currently reject a TP chapter.
@valpopal this double standard you present is fascinating for someone in your position. You claim to be student focused and want the students to shine. However, when students actively vote to not have something on campus. You are suddenly against it and see it as an unforced error. The fact of the matter is the students on campus did not want a tpusa chapter. For someone who claims to be very against administrative practices/decisioa, you suddenly now want the administration to get involved?
However, the administration did get involved and clarified further as to the rules and University guidelines regarding student organizations. Even then, the student government did elect to reconsider this motion at a later date. However, the administration notes that it is not their job to approve and deny clubs. That power rests with the students.
There's also the matter of the student Senate providing reasonable alternatives to a turning point USA chapter to the student who propositioned to restart the organization.
These statements are all readily available on credible news outlets throughout the state of Indiana.
@valpopal this double standard you present is fascinating for someone in your position. You claim to be student focused and want the students to shine. However, when students actively vote to not have something on campus. You are suddenly against it and see it as an unforced error.
You confuse "double standard" with "dialectical thinking"—the sophisticated ability to integrate opposing ideas as part of a more complex understanding to seek a broader truth. I can be all for the student senators voting their preferences, and I am, but I can equally criticize those preferences as errors in judgment that create unneeded consequences for the university.
