Florida AG Demands Law School Allow Turning Point Chapter

Florida’s top legal official is ordering a private Catholic law school in the state to allow students to form a Turning Point USA chapter on campus.

On Thursday, Florida attorney general James Uthmeier sent a letter to the dean of Miami-based Barry University School of Law, accusing the school of “blatant viewpoint discrimination that violates the school’s professed policies and values and may raise consumer protection concerns” after it denied a student-led request to start a Turning Point chapter last November.

Last fall, interest in the right-wing group—which maintains a Professor Watchlist of faculty it believes are advancing “leftist propaganda in the classroom”—surged after its founder Charlie Kirk was killed. While hundreds of new campus chapters have since formed, some higher education institutions, including Barry University, have pushed back. 

According to correspondence cited in Uthmeier’s letter, Davey Jay, interim associate dean of student affairs for the law school, told students that Turning Point’s “model of political advocacy and confrontation” is “inconsistent with the University’s educational philosophy” and that “the perspectives and methods associated with Turning Point USA do not support” the university’s mission. While the university “values discussion of differing viewpoints,” Jay added that “such discourse must occur in a context of intellectual humility, empathy and shared purpose, rather than ideological confrontation or partisan activism.”

But Uthmeier asserted in his letter Thursday that the law school’s recognition of OUTLaw, a group focused on exploring legal issues faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community, proved that the law school discriminated against Turning Point. 

“While Barry Law denied official recognition for TPUSA, a student organization that promotes traditional religious values, it recognizes OUTLaw, an LGBTQ student organization that promotes transgenderism for children through the sort of ideological confrontation and activism for which Barry Law condemns TPUSA,” he wrote. 

Uthmeier demanded that the law school “immediately cease its discriminatory practices and grant students equal access to form and operate a Turning Point USA chapter,” setting a response deadline of May 15. 

A spokesperson for Barry University told Inside Higher Ed on Thursday that it received the letter and was looking into the concerns raised.