More than 150 5C students engaged in debate at a political tabling event hosted by Claremont McKenna College’s chapter of Turning Point USA on Thursday, while dozens of partially-nude students biked by in protest.
Turning Point USA, a conservative student organization founded by late right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, advocates for conservative politics on high school and college campuses across the country. CMC’s chapter was founded last April and has around 40 members. This was the chapter’s second tabling event.
Soon after the event began at 5 p.m., Tanveer Grewal CM ’27 struck up a conversation with the tablers. He was the first student to do so.
“As somebody who’s a part of multiple different marginalized communities, [Turning Point] is something that I definitely have a negative opinion of,” Grewal said. “But I was like, why not try and expand what I know and have a conversation.”
Although Grewal said he wants to support the group’s freedom of speech, his conversation with the Turning Point members about climate change left him feeling conflicted.
“They align themselves with an organization that’s committed to promoting a non-inclusive ideology,” he said. “It’s something to reckon with.”
Soon, more individuals began gathering at the tables covered in red “We are Charlie Kirk” wristbands and pins with images of the White House reading “the future is bright.”
Helaina Korneffel SC ’28 said the event “look[ed] kind of pathetic.”
“There’s three people, they’re in the middle of the walkway, there’s like 10 things on the table and people are coming up just to record them and see what crazy sh*t they’re saying,” Korneffel said. “This is actually insane.”
Sid Goldfader-Dufty PZ ’28 heard about the tabling event last week through Pitzer College’s Student Talk email listserv, where another student had forwarded an email from the Turning Point chapter announcing it. He questioned the language used in the email to describe the event, particularly its claim that the event would host “productive and thoughtful conversations.”
“They wield this narrative that they’re the people that want to have productive conversations,” he said. “I think that’s the antithesis of what this organization does.”
Nicholas Coughlin PZ ’29 said that while there was a very valid reason for people who are often “violated” by Turning Point’s rhetoric to avoid such events, he felt compelled to attend because of his identity.
“As a white, straight, cis man, I am not really affected, and so I feel like it’s my duty to come out here and engage,” he said.
An aspiring politician, Coughlin stayed at the event and debated Turning Point members for over two-and-a-half hours. “Even if I disagree with someone, I want to be able to understand them,” he said.
Many students said it felt like some of the tablers were being purposefully divisive. Quinley Wise CM ’29 was one of them, calling the organization “anti-intellectual.”
“They want to have discussions about issues that are intentionally divisive to divide people,” Wise said. “I don’t think they should be allowed on campus.”
Gage Bassett PO ’28 said that although he had some “great debates” with some of the tablers, he felt that others were simply trying to “inflame the situation.” He said one of the tablers, who was wearing a Make America Great Again hat, told him he didn’t actually agree with the Trump administration, but was simply wearing it to get engagement.
“It should generally be frowned upon by Claremont McKenna, by the 5Cs, that people are coming here for inflammatory reasons, rather than academic debates,” Bassett said.
Evan Lichtblau CM ’29 pushed back, emphasizing the need for free expression of dialogue on campus.
“I do think they should be on campus, even if I disagree with basically all of their viewpoints,” he said. “At worst, people can just ignore it.”
Lichtblau said the hard line for discourse would be “outright hate.” Emily Thompson CM ’29 echoed a similar sentiment and said that allowing healthy discourse was a “part of the spirit of CMC.”
“It’s a place that promotes free and open discussion in a respectful way of everyone’s beliefs,” she said. “They’re entitled to be on campus … as long as they’re respecting other people’s opinions and not being derogatory.”
But a majority of students interviewed by TSL, including Aidan Evans PZ ’28, argued that Turning Point’s belief system is “deplorable” at its core.
“I think they are a mouthpiece of white supremacist, fascist beliefs,” Evans said. “I don’t want them on my campus.”
“I think they are a mouthpiece of white supremacist, fascist beliefs,” Aidan Evans PZ ’28 said. “I don’t want them on my campus.”
Turning Point student leaders said the organization prohibited them from interviewing with TSL. Other student members declined to comment.
At 6:20 p.m., the event was interrupted by more than 70 students biking by the tables wearing little clothing, who then raced around the Cube several times while blasting music.
The event, dubbed “bike porn,” happens a few times each semester. Luca Davis PZ ’27 introduced the idea last Thursday on Pitzer College’s Student Talk email listserv, hoping to turn the biking tradition into a mini protest by riding past the Turning Point event.
Students part of Pitzer’s Green Bike Program saw the message and, a few days later, officially announced the event.
That evening, student bikers gathered at the Bauer Center. Davis said it was the biggest ‘bike porn’ he’s ever been a part of. The bikers then finalized their plans: they would ride silently until they got fully past the event.
“They’re begging for our attention,” Davis said. “We just wanted to completely ignore them.”
As the bikers passed the tabling event, many students cheered them on. Then, once the riders got to the Cube, they began singing, whooping and riding in circles in the water around the Cube.
“People were super excited to have a good time and be with all of our friends and be silly [to] counteract those bad vibes,” Davis said.
Davis said the point of the event was to emphasize the contrast between the riders and the tablers.
“The event seemed pretty lame,” he said. “There’s better things to be doing than rage-baiting.”
The event was set to end at 7:30 p.m., but dozens of students kept debating with the tablers. Even after the organizers took down the tent and tables at 8 p.m., several students remained to finish a debate with the tablers.
Correction: An earlier version of this piece incorrectly stated that Dufty heard about the Turning Point event through the chapter’s mailing list. Dufty learned about the event through Pitzer College’s Student Talk email listserv, where a message from the Turning Point mailing list had been forwarded. The original article also misspelled Dufty’s last name as Duffy.
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