As a senior at Saint Mary’s College, I have always appreciated the attention given to bipartisan voices and different perspectives on campus. Thanks to the passionate work of our faculty and students, diversity and empathetic dialogue are two of our most valued strengths. However, Turning Point USA — which was recently approved for official club status at SMC — is a very different story. TPUSA’s values are deeply at odds with the mission of Saint Mary’s College and its founders, the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
Justice and community are two of SMC’s core values, and TPUSA endangers both. TPUSA has been classified as a hate group by two human rights watch organizations: the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. Its politics and methods are not only divisive but also hateful and bigoted toward marginalized communities, including people of color, immigrants and queer people — all of whom are present and valued within the SMC student body. Many Belles who identify with these groups have felt frightened and unsupported since SMC’s recognition of TPUSA as a valid organization. Allowing hate on campus does not promote equality or dialogue — it simply makes vulnerable communities feel unheard and unwelcome. That is the opposite of SMC’s call to community.
Ironically, TPUSA is also notoriously antifeminist. It promotes women’s place as in the home, decries single women as a critical issue in society, undermines the importance of consent, and claims feminism is responsible for the flaws of modern society and Christianity. This blatantly contradicts and insults SMC’s history and mission. Since 1844, we have been a trailblazer for women’s education, career advancement, academic perspectives and empowerment within Christianity. This focus on empowering women is what makes us so special as an institution! I am proud to be a Belle in no small part due to these values. As a woman with strong career goals and a Christian with a deep love for Jesus, SMC has absolutely shaped me into who I am today and has also enhanced my faith. I know firsthand the value of such an intellectually rich, feminist education. Allowing TPUSA to function on campus sullies our legacy as a leading, progressive Catholic women’s college.
Many more factors demonstrate the incompatibility of TPUSA with SMC’s mission. TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk failed to adequately condemn gun violence, considering it a necessary aspect of living within a free society. Please compare this to the insistent protests against gun violence and war by the Sisters of the Holy Cross as part of their social charism, which centers compassion and justice for all. Furthermore, TPUSA advocates Christian nationalism and American exceptionalism, which overlooks and undervalues the diverse communities around the world whom God loves and whom the Church calls us to love, as well. John 3:16 reads, “For God so loved the world,” not just the United States. This “America First” mentality flies in the face of not only God’s all-encompassing love but also the Sisters of the Holy Cross’s call to global ministry toward the poor. The Sisters, inspired by Catholic social teaching, emphasize solidarity within the global community, including the rights and wellbeing of immigrants as a central aspect of pro-life teachings. TPUSA has made no secret of its antipathy toward immigrants, utterly ignoring their inherent value and dignity as children of God, not to mention the recent calls of Catholic leaders for more humane treatment. These foundational TPUSA beliefs blatantly contradict our mission as a Catholic women’s college.
This kind of hateful, exclusionary group does not belong at SMC, which has always fostered a community of inclusion, empathy and justice in keeping with the mission of the Sisters of the Holy Cross and Catholic social teaching. Welcoming TPUSA as an official presence on campus is no less than a slap in the face to the Sisters who founded us, the women who this institution continues to educate and empower, and our Catholic call to justice and unconditional love for all. I ask members of the SMC community to reflect on what our values truly require of us and what kind of campus climate we hope to foster, especially during this current political moment.
Sarabeth Spencer
Saint Mary’s College class of 2026
Nov. 20
