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The student government at a Catholic school in Queens, New York, has reportedly denied their classmates the opportunity to start a Turning Point USA chapter on campus.
St. John’s University’s student leaders shot down the club’s second application to be officially recognized as a club, following a first rejection in November, a school spokesperson confirmed Wednesday morning.
“At St. John’s University, the sole authority to approve or deny new student organizations rests solely with Student Government, Inc. (SGI),” Brian Browne told Fox News Digital. “The four-round Power to Organize process aims to introduce or revitalize clubs/organizations to the St. John’s Campus.”
He said that during the fall semester, only four of 19 proposed organizations were approved by the SGI.
“St. John’s students interested in Turning Point USA are encouraged to reapply to SGI in the Spring or pursue other existing alternatives for department-sponsored organizational support,” he said.
Carnesecca Arena on the campus of St. John’s University on Dec. 6, 2020, in the Queens borough of New York City. (Porter Binks/Getty Images)
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Asked whether the students should expect to succeed after presenting their application for the third time before the same board that has now denied them twice, Browne said, “[a]pplicants are encouraged to work with Student Government leadership to address any deficiencies in their application and presentation.”
Ava Wilson, the head of St. John’s SGI, did not return a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
The latest rejection follows a broader trend of Turning Point chapters facing campus recognition troubles nationwide, especially in the wake of the assassination of the organization’s iconic founder, Charlie Kirk, on Sept. 10 of last year.
A monthslong saga played out at Loyola University New Orleans during the fall semester, as a would-be Turning Point chapter there was also twice rejected by the school’s student government. The students there find themselves in limbo, as they are allowed unlimited appeals, but would have to plead their case to the same board that has already denied them multiple times.
A liberal college professor wrote a New York Times essay about the importance of him sponsoring a Turning Point USA group on campus, when other faculty refused. (Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)
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Students at California Lutheran University were denied the opportunity to restart a Turning Point chapter in December. The school’s university senate made that decision, with one member of the body saying he wasn’t surprised that the club was rejected, as Turning Point “is trying to push a certain rhetoric, and the last thing we need is controversy here on this campus.”
Turning Point previously had a chapter at California Lutheran, but it was dissolved in 2021.
Last year, students at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego were also denied the opportunity to start a chapter. The school also denied two attempts to form a chapter in 2021.
Charlie Kirk speaks before he is assassinated during Turning Point’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Sept. 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/The Deseret News via AP)
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Kirk’s assassination sparked a massive wave of interest in the organization he founded, on college campuses and at high schools alike.
Just days after Kirk’s memorial, which was one of America’s largest ever for a private citizen, the group said it had received more than 120,000 inquiries for founding new campus chapters. At the time, the organization operated on 900 campuses throughout America.
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