Turning Point USA
About
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is an American nonprofit organization founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk and Bill Montgomery, focused on promoting conservative politics at high schools, colleges, and universities. It has become the fastest-growing organization for campus chapters in the U.S. and is recognized as a leading force in campus conservatism.
David Shankbone, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons
Professor Watchlist
In 2016, TPUSA launched the Professor Watchlist, a website that lists academic staff accused of discriminating against conservative students and promoting leftist views. The organization also seeks to influence student government elections to counter liberalism on campuses. In 2021, it introduced the School Board Watchlist, highlighting school board members who have implemented mask mandates or anti-racist curricula.
Conferences
TPUSA organizes several annual conferences, including the Student Action Summit, Young Women's Leadership Summit, Young Black Leadership Summit, and AmericaFest. The organization is supported by conservative donors and foundations, as well as Republican politicians.
Charlie Kirk
In a 2015 speech at the Liberty Forum of Silicon Valley, Charlie Kirk revealed that he had applied to the United States Military Academy at West Point but was not accepted. He claimed that the slot he believed he deserved went to "a far less-qualified candidate of a different gender and a different persuasion," a statement he later characterized as sarcasm in a 2017 interview with The New Yorker. However, at a TPUSA event in New Hampshire in 2019, he denied ever making that claim. Kirk's remarks have drawn scrutiny and sparked debate about his views on qualifications and diversity in military admissions.
Kirk has played a significant role in Republican politics, notably addressing the 2016 Republican National Convention. Although he expressed ambivalence about Donald Trump during the campaign, he ultimately supported him and assisted with logistics for Donald Trump Jr. Additionally, former TPUSA employees have alleged collusion between Kirk, high-ranking TPUSA staff, and the presidential campaigns of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, including efforts to mobilize student volunteers for these campaigns. Kirk later became CEO of Students for Trump and was a keynote speaker at the 2020 Republican National Convention, where he praised Trump as the "bodyguard of western civilization."