Students’ Ban of Conservative Group Prompts Outrage. But It’s Unenforceable, University Says.

A vote by the student government at Texas State University to ban a conservative student group erupted into a free-speech melee this week, after the group’s national founder mischaracterized the attempt as an official university action.

Last night @txst officially voted to BAN our @TPUSA chapter which advocates for free markets and free speech

The intolerant left can‘t tolerate the idea there are other ideas

This is exactly why @realDonaldTrump signed free speech executive order

Pull their funding!

RT!

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) April 9, 2019

The outrage of Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was quickly retweeted by his followers and picked up by conservative media sites. Greg Abbott, Texas’ Republican governor, jumped into the fray, tweeting that he looked forward to signing a bill to uphold free speech on college campuses, passed by the state Senate.

Lost in the initial outrage was a response from Margarita Arellano, the university’s dean of students, who issued a statement saying that, while the student government has a right to act on a resolution to ban the conservative student group, it does not have the authority to actually kick Turning Point USA off campus. Student organizations can be banned only if they are facing disciplinary sanctions, she wrote, and the campus chapter of Turning Point is not.

“Following university policy, the organization will not be barred from Texas State campuses,” she wrote. “Texas State supports the constitutional rights of all of our students, faculty, staff, and visitors.”

The resolution approved by the student government, but not acted on by the administration, condemned members of the group for “using intimidation and harassment to control students, faculty, and staff for their practice of promoting hate speech, and for their practice of illegally influencing and corrupting student-government elections.”

In 2018, Texas State’s student body president resigned after her campaign was accused of accepting $2,800 and 25 iPads from Turning Point USA. The group said it stands for limited government and free markets and does not promote hate speech.

Meanwhile, as rumor spread that Texas State was taking aim at conservatives, other journalists tried to correct the record:

Why let facts get in the way of fanning the flames? The @txst student gov’t passed a resolution, but has no power to ban organizations. The university issued a statement making that clear: https://t.co/MVzAi4cGkk https://t.co/yg70oU4cY1

— Debbie Hiott (@dhiott) April 9, 2019

Of course, the tweet that prompted this exchange is a lie. Texas State is not banning conservative orgs from its campus. False information is being peddled in what looks like an effort to stir up outrage. https://t.co/Udm1wObXQR

— Matthew Watkins (@MWatkinsTrib) April 10, 2019

The resolution at the center of the confusion was approved by the student government on Monday. It called on the university to ban the campus chapter of Turning Point USA, citing its “consistent history of creating hostile work and learning environments through a myriad of intimidation tactics aimed against students and faculty.” The resolution also criticized the group’s Professor Watchlist, which “exposes” faculty members accused of discriminating against conservative students and promoting a liberal agenda.

Kelly Stone, a lecturer at Texas State whose course, “Sexuality Across the Lifespan,” was canceled this spring, said a student tried to undermine her teaching by harassing her, asking if she was a Christian and making disparaging remarks against sexual-assault victims.

“It has been heart-wrenching for me to see how this culture of hate has infected my campus and my community and how it has hurt so many of my students, neighbors, and colleagues, and it’s time the university does something to actually stop it,” she wrote in an email.

Stormi Rodriguez, president of Turning Point’s campus chapter, spoke during an open forum before the vote. Her remarks were interrupted by chants of “No more harassment, no more hate, remove Turning Point from Texas State!” The taunts continued as she left the meeting. She recorded them on Twitter.

“If the left wants an example of what it looks like to be threatening and intimidating students, they should look in a mirror at #txst,” she tweeted.

The free-speech bill the governor referred to, now pending before the Texas House of Representatives, was introduced after lawmakers held a hearing at Texas State into accusations of free-speech violations.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a nonprofit group focused on protecting First Amendment rights on college campuses, said the university made the right call in rejecting the attempt to ban Turning Point USA.

“The student government is free to call on the university to ban TPUSA, but it’s a request that the university’s administration cannot grant,” Adam B. Steinbaugh, director of FIRE’s Individual Rights Defense Program, wrote in an email. “Nor can the student government take steps to deprive the TPUSA chapter of benefits provided to other organizations due to objections to TPUSA’s views.”

He said the student vote was a “disappointing turn of events for a body that recently impeached a student-body president for (in part) attempting to defund the student newspaper because it published an opinion piece he found offensive.”

Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, and job training, as well as other topics in daily news. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.