“We don’t hate women; we hate the victimhood cult that tells women they’re perpetual oppressed victims who need abortion and government handouts to succeed.”
A fellow senior at Saint Mary’s College recently published an article claiming that Turning Point USA is incompatible with SMC values. I am the president of the newly approved TPUSA at SMC chapter, and I am here to tell you: Turning Point USA is precisely what Saint Mary’s needs. In its faithful embodiment of our four core values, this chapter may well prove the most vital development this college has seen in generations.
First, Saint Mary’s boasts “learning,” where “a learning community engages in a wide variety of critical perspectives in its ongoing search for truth. The diversity of the individuals that comprise a learning community provides our students with a wide range of human experiences and relationships.” We are grateful to see Saint Mary’s at last honor its own stated principles by granting conservative students a seat at the table — one we have sought with persistent and principled effort for the past four years.
The letter opens with a glaring self-contradiction: The author pledges allegiance to inclusivity while, in the very next breath, demands censorship of TPUSA. That is not a defense of pluralism; it is a confession of ideological tyranny. While the left seeks a progressive monopoly on higher education, TPUSA exists to offer students a real chance at intellectual diversity. We bring the speakers the administration won’t invite, ask the questions the faculty won’t tolerate and give conservative women the platform they are routinely denied.
Second, SMC preaches “community,” which is “formed by individuals who understand, honor and celebrate diversity as a necessary prerequisite to unity.” While liberals find artificial strength in identity politics, TPUSA recognizes that true cohesion — the very unity SMC holds as its aspiration — emerges from a shared commitment to a common mission.
Consider the perversity of the letter’s preposterous claims against TPUSA through this lens. The “hate group” label the author waves around comes exclusively from the Southern Poverty Law Center, an outfit that slaps that sticker on anyone to the right of Bernie Sanders, and the Anti-Defamation League, whose TPUSA designation was walked back years ago after zero evidence of bigotry was found. The entire TPUSA mission is to bring Americans together in community. In fact, our inaugural event featured Fox News host and wounded Marine veteran Johnny “Joey” Jones, who recounted his triumph over adversity and urged Americans to unite in community under our shared national identity rather than fracture along lines of demographic difference.
Third, SMC values “faith/spirituality,” as SMC claims to “encourage and support members as they grow spiritually and as they lead lives of faith.” Turning Point USA was born from an explicit love of Christ and remains anchored to that foundation today. Our late founder, Charlie Kirk — one of the most formidable Christian voices of our time — placed faith above politics, lived it unapologetically and died defending it. Assassinated for his convictions, he joins the company of martyrs.
To claim from a theological standpoint that TPUSA does not belong at Saint Mary’s might be the most preposterous claim of all. No other political organization shouts the love of Christ the way TPUSA does. A faith-based institution of higher education that welcomes every ideology except the one that takes the Bible most seriously has traded the bold charism of its founders for the timid approval of the secular academy. TPUSA is the antidote.
Fourth, SMC cherishes “justice,” defined in our mission as a call to “reaffirm our commitment to overcome prejudice and change systems that oppress.” Real justice, as TPUSA recognizes, begins with truth: It dismantles the most insidious system of oppression on campuses today — the lie that a woman’s dignity and power depend on abortion, government dependency or perpetual victim status.
This letter claims TPUSA is “antifeminist” and wants women barefoot in the kitchen. That’s ironic considering the new CEO and owner of TPUSA is Erika Kirk, arguably one of the most empowered women in this nation. We don’t hate women; we hate the victimhood cult that tells women they’re perpetual oppressed victims who need abortion and government handouts to succeed. Saint Mary’s educates us to be warriors, not whiners — and so does TPUSA.
So no, TPUSA isn’t a “slap in the face” to Saint Mary’s. The real insult to the SMC legacy is telling women on this campus that the only acceptable way to be an empowered woman is to blindly join the foot soldier ranks who parrot the same progressive line, while silencing the women who dare think for themselves.
See you at our next meeting. Our doors are always open.
Macy Gunnell
Saint Mary’s College class of 2026
Nov. 30
