After Charlie Kirk’s tragic death, a surprising shift occurred on campuses across the country. For the first time, many students felt truly free to embrace and openly declare their conservative beliefs.
It’s a strange and sobering phenomenon: sometimes it takes a martyrdom—a violent, horrific event—to finally embolden people to speak up. Thousands of students nationwide needed that wake-up call before they could summon the courage to identify as conservative.
Yet this pattern does not hold at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU). Students there have long been willing to stand up for their convictions, even when the prevailing campus culture, peers, and administration stand firmly opposed.
I can attest to this firsthand. PLNU is my alma mater, and just five years ago, I attempted to charter a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) club on campus. We envisioned a conservative group dedicated to thoughtful conversations about policy, government overreach, and the sanctity of life—surely values that would align with a Christian university.
To our surprise, and that of the peers who tried in the years that followed, the application was denied. Again. And again. And again.
Now, in 2026, a determined new wave of students has picked up the mantle, seeking once more to bring TPUSA to PLNU. Regrettably, their effort met the same fate: denial.
But these students refused to accept “no” as the final answer.
Brooklyn Stratton, the club’s intended president, joined forces with the rest of the leadership team to fight for the hundreds of students who crave a genuine space for political dialogue and discussion. They are determined to protect and provide that space.
I spoke with Brooklyn about her beliefs, her upbringing, and why she believed this year, after Charlie Kirk’s assassination, might finally be different for bringing Turning Point USA to Point Loma Nazarene University.
She shared that she grew up in a patriotic, military family here in California. Even with her own family’s strong convictions, she has always felt the weight of opposition from those around her. Charlie’s death hit her deeply and personally; it fueled her determination to create a space where conservative students could connect and speak freely.
“Growing up in California and being a Republican is kinda of looked down upon…. After the assassination of Charlie Kirk I was looking for a community that I could talk to and express my values and beliefs with,” Brooklyn shared with me.
She explained that Turning Point USA offers precisely that: safe, peaceful spaces for students who share similar beliefs to come together, discuss ideas, and build community without fear.
Knowing PLNU’s history all too well—having watched my own attempt and several others get shut down after graduation—I had to ask the question hanging over everything: You knew the university’s track record with TPUSA. What made you think this time would be different?
“I was hopeful. I don’t know if that was naive or not, but I really thought that our school would want to represent a large portion of their student body to be quite frank… I honestly thought after the assasination of Charlie Kirk they would realize that we too need a voice and need to be able to speak up. When we don’t things like that happen, so I thought my school would be willing to allow for diversity of thought,” Brooklyn shared.
She went on to add, “Me and my parents chose this school because of its Christian values. I grew up conservative. My dad was a Marine, so I grew up with very patriotic values. I thought coming to this school would be a breath of fresh air in California.”
PLNU requires any new club to have at least 12 founding members to even be considered by the Associated Student Body—a threshold meant to prove genuine interest beyond just a leadership team.
What Brooklyn told me next is staggering.
One of her peers, who was set to join the leadership team, created an anonymous poll on Fizz. By the time it closed, over 900 students had voted in favor of bringing a TPUSA club to campus.
On top of that, Brooklyn and her team launched a petition for students to sign their names in direct support. It collected 200 signatures. Their club Instagram account? Already approaching 900 followers.
Do the math with me: 900 poll votes + 200 petition signatures + nearly 900 social media followers. How does that stack up against the minimum of 12?
The level of student desire and support is overwhelming—undeniable evidence that hundreds crave this space.
Yet despite this groundswell, the application was rejected.
The reason? The university cited concerns over TPUSA’s Professor Watchlist.
Brooklyn put it plainly: “[The professor watchlist] is completely inactive and there is no way for a professor to get on the watchlist. It protects students from agendas being pushed in class or liberal professors grading biasedly. It’s alarming they wouldn’t want that protection for their students.”
In their club application, the students included John 3:19-20: “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.”
What she shared next truly troubles me. Because the verse uses the word “exposed,” the university grew uncomfortable, fearing it signaled some hidden, offensive agenda.
Let that sink in: This is a Christian university. Students quoted Scripture in good faith to express their values—yet that very Bible verse was twisted and held against them as a reason to deny the club.
Meanwhile, PLNU has made room for a pro-LGBTQ+ group called Voices of Love. According to Brooklyn, it’s not officially recognized as a “real” club but functions as a support group for the LGBTQ+ community. She described how the university “found loopholes in their system to make room for this support group” despite it being “completely against the Nazarene doctrine.”
To close our conversation, I asked Brooklyn one final question: If you could say one thing to the administration and one thing to your peers, what would it be?
Brooklyn stated the following:
To the administration: I am really disappointed that you are using the Christian brand without upholding its values and beliefs. But not only that, you are pushing a certain agenda on students not only through support groups but in curriculum and chapels. The stuff we have been getting taught in chapels…. The speakers who come in have Instagram posts with drag queens. I am really disappointed.
To my peers: Keep using your voice. We still want to make a space for this on campus and ensure students can express their beliefs without being scared of their teachers giving a bad grade for it. Be bold and be courageous in your thoughts and voice. Be willing to step out of your comfort zone.
In the face of rejection, Brooklyn and her leadership team aren’t giving up. They’re launching the TPUSA chapter off campus as what Turning Point calls an “activism hub.” Without official school recognition or access to campus facilities, they’ll meet independently.
Their first off-campus gathering is next week on January 22nd at Awaken Bayho Church in San Diego, CA. The event is called, “What Happens When Conviction Meets Passion?” For any San Diego college students interested in participating in the event, click here to register.
America desperately needs more students like Brooklyn Stratton—young people who refuse to be silenced, who stand unapologetically for what they know is right, even when the institutions meant to nurture free thought slam the door in their face.
For five relentless years, PLNU students have been told no. Yet they have not wavered. They have demanded—not begged for—a simple space to engage in honest, civil dialogue about the issues that shape our lives, our laws, and our shared future.
Charlie Kirk paid the ultimate price for daring to speak his beliefs openly. Murdered in broad daylight on a college campus for the crime of conversation, he left behind a warning that now echoes louder than ever: “When people stop talking, that’s when you get violence. That’s when civil war happens, because you start to think the other side is so evil, and they lose their humanity.”
In an era when conservatives are routinely vilified in the media, demonized in classrooms, and marginalized on campuses, even at Christian institutions that claim to value truth and grace, universities have a sacred duty. They must provide safe harbors for robust, respectful debate, not echo chambers that enforce ideological conformity.
To deny that space is not neutrality; it is suppression. To silence these voices is not protection; it is complicity in the very division Kirk warned against.
Brooklyn and her peers are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for the freedom to think, speak, and persuade—the same freedoms that define a free society and a faithful one. Their persistence honors Charlie’s legacy in the most powerful way possible: by keeping the conversation alive.
Because if we stop talking now, what comes next is far worse than rejection letters. It’s the silence that breeds violence.
Let’s not wait for another tragedy to remind us why dialogue matters. Let’s champion the Brooklyns on every campus who are still willing to try.
