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A conservative student leader at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, says students face a “big fear” of joining the campus Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter because conservatives remain a small minority on campus.
“In general, a lot of students are afraid of being ostracized by their peers or … not being [accepted] — it’s a very minority group,” TPUSA Chapter President Rachel Cook told Fox News Digital.
“Being a conservative on campus or even having conservative-leaning beliefs is not a popular idea here. We have seen a lot of disrespect and not a lot of people who are open to having civil discussion and discourse,” Cook added.
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Cook took over leadership of the TPUSA chapter to promote ideological diversity on campus, arguing that Fort Lewis College needs more balanced dialogue representing different political viewpoints.
“An officer has gotten spit at when we table, and we have had people be harassed,” Cook said. “We work a lot with pro-life community members who come to campus and do their advocacy whenever we’re not able to stand with them. Even in these past couple of weeks, people have come up to them, ripped their signs and attempted to hit them. A lot of people choose not to press charges.”
Cook noted that enrollment in the Fort Lewis College chapter has remained flat as students fear social and academic retaliation.
The stagnation comes nearly a year after the student government’s high-profile decision to recognize the chapter sparked intense opposition across campus — much of which was captured on video obtained by Fox News Digital.
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David Peters, former chair of the La Plata County GOP and a retired Chevron executive, reflected on the incident and its lingering effect on the student group.
“Their membership has been essentially flat. The issue is that a lot of students are reluctant to join the chapter for fear of retaliation,” Peters said.
Fort Lewis College officials maintained that campus security remains a top priority and said the college had received no reports of harassment involving TPUSA chapter members this academic year.
“Fort Lewis College takes the safety of our students and visitors seriously. We continue to respond to all reports of safety concerns on campus,” a college spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Fort Lewis College has not received any reports this academic year involving harassment of members of the college’s TPUSA chapter. Fort Lewis College has a system in place for students to report negative experiences.”
The ongoing tensions unfold amid a national surge in interest for TPUSA campus chapters following the Sept. 10, 2025, assassination of TPUSA co-founder Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. In the aftermath, the national conservative organization reported receiving more than 120,000 inquiries from students seeking to establish local chapters.
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Many critics objected to Flynn’s support for TPUSA’s political positions and his plan to launch a watchlist of FLC professors, mirroring the national TPUSA watch list that caused backlash. The Herald reported that only three people supported Flynn’s proposal to start a chapter. (Fox News Digital)
At Fort Lewis College, then-senior Jonah Flynn initially led the effort to establish a chapter on campus. Although the Associated Students of Fort Lewis College (ASFLC) student government initially rejected Flynn’s proposal, the body ultimately reversed course and voted to approve the group during an emergency session.
The approval vote prompted immediate pushback from anti-TPUSA demonstrators outside the meeting room. According to a Fort Lewis College campus police report, approximately 70 people attended the high-tension meeting, with verbal confrontations spilling out into the building lobby.
Despite the friction, Cook remains optimistic about the chapter’s upcoming initiatives.
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“Our vision for this year is to really talk about policy coming up in Colorado that affects us as a community here,” Cook said. “We just finished up our vigil for Charlie Kirk, which was a beautiful memorial here at the college. We also have events planned for the Second Amendment — we are going shooting soon — and while a lot of things are still in planning, we’re really excited for everything to come this semester.”