William & Mary students launch Turning Point USA chapter amid peer backlash

Students at the College of William & Mary, the second-oldest university in the United States, are launching a Turning Point USA chapter despite social media backlash and pushback from peers.

Olivia Keller, a sophomore at William and Mary, told Fox News Digital in an interview Wednesday that the school administration has been supportive, but her peers haven’t been.

Most of the resistance has been on social media app YikYak, because she thinks students are more comfortable attacking the club behind a screen rather than face-to-face.

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“There has been a lot of discussion on that platform among students,” Keller said. “So they’ve been pretty opposed to our efforts with this new club. They’ve made comments about the exec members on the club, they’ve made fun of it when Charlie Kirk was assassinated. They were saying, ‘Oh, we haven’t heard a racist comment in a while that’s awesome.’ So it’s just some really, really inappropriate stuff on there. But in person I haven’t really had any kind of interaction that was as bad as online, as I mean it’s face-to-face versus online, so like they’re definitely more scared to say something in person.”

The 20-year-old student told Fox News Digital that she reached out to campus security after learning that other students planned to protest the group’s Oct. 20 informational meeting.

“When that was brought to my attention, I had never dealt with a protest before. I wasn’t sure how big it was going to be, how many people would actually show up, or how disruptive they would be,” Keller said. “So I did feel the need to get security outside of our meeting. And the faculty and staff were really easy to communicate with to get those security guards outside.”

Keller, who is a marketing major, said she has noticed a drastic decrease in her friends following her on social media platforms like Instagram after posting about Kirk’s assassination. 

The 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA was assassinated on Sept. 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University during his “American Comeback Tour.”

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Keller claimed that about 200 friends on Instagram unfollowed her after she posted a “rest in peace” tribute to Kirk after his assassination, and that more unfollowed her Monday when she shared a post for Veterans Day.

Keller said she thinks conservative students tend to face a tougher environment on campus as opposed to their liberal peers.

“Even the College Republicans, they face a lot of backlash, and they’re pretty loud about their beliefs,” Keller said. “When Trump was elected the previous year, they were wearing the MAGA hats and stuff, and so they were commented on a lot, like there were a lot of disagreements.”

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Keller said she had been a “closeted conservative” but decided to speak up despite the risks.

“Me personally, I’ve been more of what I would say, a closeted conservative on campus until this year, just because I feel like if I were to speak up, I would just be, attacked or, like, basically condemned,” Keller said.

Her advice to students finding themselves in a similar position who want to start a conservative club in a left-leaning institution is to be “bold.”

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“In today’s world, I think it’s really important to be bold about these beliefs,” Keller said. “And even if your peers disagree with you, in the long run, you’re gonna find your own community with people who have similar values and those are gonna be the more important relationships.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the College of William & Mary for comment.