Efforts to establish a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter at Notre Dame have been underway for several years, as student organizers face difficulty obtaining approval from the Student Activities Office (SAO). The ongoing process has drawn attention from both Notre Dame campus groups and Saint Mary’s College, where a chapter was recently approved. As student founders of a TPUSA chapter at Notre Dame try a second time to receive SAO approval, students involved in the process shared their perspectives with the Rover.
Macy Gunnell, one of the founders of the TPUSA chapter at Saint Mary’s College, shared her experience founding the club at SMC.
Editor’s note: The following statements were edited for the sake of brevity and clarity.
Irish Rover: What motivated you to start a TPUSA chapter at Saint Mary’s? What was the process like getting the club approved?
Macy Gunnell: This started with Claire Bettag (now Gorlich), SMC ’25. She attempted to start it in her freshman year and was denied. Once I came around her sophomore year, we ran it together underground, as we continuously sought approval but were repeatedly denied. I finally was able to get the group approved at the beginning of my senior year after Charlie Kirk’s assassination. [The] process was the same as ever—just an online form, but the VP of the college finally let us know she would approve us with this last attempt, so long as we made edits to our application per the school’s request.
Did you face any challenges or pushback from others during that process?
We were grateful for the approval, but I … [am] beyond frustrated with how long it took. Why did it take them four years and the brutal assassination of TPUSA’s founder to approve us? If this were an institution of legitimate credibility that sincerely devoted [itself] to intellectual diversity as they claim to, we would have never had this years-long battle.
What advice would you give to the students who are trying to start a chapter at Notre Dame?
Don’t settle. Any pushback you may receive is just further confirmation that the mission is worth it.
The Rover also spoke with Ray Webber, a sophomore seeking SAO approval to begin a TPUSA chapter on campus.
Could you describe the initial process of seeking SAO approval? Why do you think there was pushback?
In my freshman year, we didn’t even apply to be an approved club. But even throughout that year, we saw that other clubs on campus were still able to do certain actions without being officially SAO-approved. So we tried to do that, but every step of the way, we were facing heavy opposition.
Our events were getting taken down. Our advertisements were getting taken down. We had to go to places off campus to do anything [and] it was very hard to do. [This] year, we applied to become official because we knew that was the only way that [we could] do anything on campus. The unfortunate circumstances of the assassination of Charlie Kirk led to a lot of momentum for a push for the Notre Dame chapter. We got a lot of signatures, and a lot of people were interested … so it looked like everything was good.
But we had an interview with the Club Coordination Council, and … they claimed we are too similar to [other] conservative clubs on campus [and] that Turning Point USA doesn’t have anything else to offer. Those are the basic reasons they gave. But to us, it really seemed like they were trying to find some loophole to prevent us from becoming approved. That’s speculative, but … it just seems like their conditions are very biased towards us and very selective in regard to how they were viewing our application.
How are you trying to set this club apart from other conservative groups at Notre Dame?
[T]he first time around, [we were] essentially a nonpartisan conservative club advocating for free speech, but now the emphasis is on the Catholic mission of the Notre Dame Turning Point USA chapter. Our club will emphasize compatibility between classical conservatism and Catholic political philosophy, which will make it a unique organization.
Do you have an alternative plan if, for any reason, SAO denies your application again?
Right now, the strategy is to work with SAO for the rest of the semester. We’re going to be a little bit more aggressive, but we’re going to push on those boundaries a little bit with respect for what SAO wants, because we do want to get approved.
But if it does turn out that we do not get approved, we are going to go to national media sources. We’re going to have a bigger, more aggressive campaign. We’ve already been in touch with the Sycamore Trust about getting alumni involved, conservative alumni involved, and it’s going to become a bigger controversy for the school, because clearly, even with all the effort we’re doing to rebrand and make our Turning Point USA chapter different and conform to their commands; if they still don’t accept us as an SAO-proof club, then yes, they’re going to have some problems.
What is one thing you hope that someone from SAO would understand about your situation in getting the club started?
I would say to SAO that you are preventing the interests of the students that you’re supposed to serve, and that there are clearly people, lots of lots of students, lots of faculty, and lots of alumni who want this to happen, and by continually making it increasingly difficult, you’re not just preventing us from doing something that we want as organizers, but you’re preventing the students from getting involved in something that makes them passionate, that will advance their careers, will allow them to network and build relationships within these communities.
SAO did not respond to the Rover’s request for comment. The criteria for new student organizations can be found on their website.
Zachary Nicholson is a first-year finance student. He can be reached at znichols@nd.edu.