Western Carolina University’s chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) discussed and criticized critical race theory, while many other WCU students protested in and outside of the UC Raleigh room on Sept. 20.
From the total of 50 seats available in the room about half were taken up by protesters and 12 more were outside the room holding up signs. This is the estimate of WCJ, and it was also confirmed with Aidan Tysinger, one of the protesters.
Two campus police officers were outside the room monitoring the situation.
WCU Intercultural Affairs representatives, before the event started, met with the protesters who wanted clarification on what exactly critical race theory (C.R.T.) is.
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) views C.R.T. as a divisional topic that should not be taught in educational settings.
According to Britannica, critical race theory is a social movement that is built off the premise of believing race is a social barrier rather than a biological one. Those who believe in teaching these philosophies, critical race theorists, believe that race is embedded in the society, culture and law of the U.S.
WCU TPUSA chapter invited Joe Basrwai, influencer and a conservative commentator to be a guest speaker. The group president, Brendan Chafin in an email wrote that they were not overwhelmed or worried by the protesters.
“My take on CRT is that it should not be forced in university classrooms or the K-12 systems. I say this because it is never okay nor a good idea to blame problems and call a group of people the root of the majority of problems within a society,” Chafin said.
Chafin, who is Criminal Justice major, added that they welcomed the protesters who had to signed up for their club but was not happy because they did not come there to have a civil discourse.
“As soon as Joe started they immediately started barraging him with questions without letting him get through even half of his presentation. Luckily he welcomed this and tried to answer everyone within the hour and a half time frame. This did however take away from most of his lecture and he was not able to get close to finishing his talk on CRT,” said Chafin.
The protesters view C.R.T. as an essential learning tool within the education system.
WCU sophomore business management major, Jarrod Seifert, was among the protesters or as he said ‘sit in’ to make a point.
“Our system was built on slavery and oppression, and because of that our laws and institutions are set up to keep others down,” Seifert said in a text message.
He explained that the TPUSA speaker would use history and definitions out of context and cherry pick information to defend their views. Because of that they kept interrupting the speaker. The protesters believe that this sit in could lead to bigger things like taking a stand for what they believe in and taking actions for change.
“I was proud to see students taking a stand for what they felt was right,” Ben Helms, senior psychology major, said in a text message after the event.
Turning Point USA is a national conservative grassroots organization with a mission “to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government.” Their website states they concentrate their activism on high school and college campuses and claim to be present on over 2,500 campuses. As part of the organization, they have School Board and Professors watch lists where they identify “most radical school districts” or “radical professors.”
TPUSA WCU chapter started in 2019 and since then it has been surrounded by controversy.
