A Florida law school has reversed course and will allow a Turning Point USA chapter following intervention from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier after the school initially denied the chapter.
“We are glad Barry Law reversed course and is allowing its students an opportunity to hear ideas that are outside of the left-wing echo chamber,” Uthmeier told Fox News Digital Monday in a statement.
Florida’s Voice reported April 22 that “Barry University School of Law has reversed its earlier denial and will allow students to form a chapter of Turning Point USA, complying with demands from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier that the private Catholic institution had engaged in viewpoint discrimination.”
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In an April 9 letter, Uthmeier wrote, “Denying students the ability to form a TPUSA chapter at Barry Law likely violates students’ contractually ‘guaranteed’ freedom of expression and association. It discourages free discussion, inquiry, and expression, and disables students from organizing and joining an association to promote their common interests.”
Uthmeier, who had asked the law school to respond by May 15, continued, “Barry Law’s decision also violates the specific promise that disqualification will not be based solely on affiliation with an extramural organization. The denial was specifically premised on the student organization’s affiliation with TPUSA, which the law school disingenuously determined was in conflict with the University’s purpose.”
He also pointed out that the law school, located in Miami Shores, has an OUTLaw chapter, an LGBTQ+ student organization found at many U.S. law schools.
“Barry University is ‘a Catholic institution,’ grounded in ‘the liberal arts tradition,’ that ‘nurtures and values cultural, social and intellectual diversity’ — apparently unless a student is a religious conservative,” he wrote.
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Uthmeier added, “Barry Law’s recognition of the LGBTQ organization OUTLaw undermines the Catholic Church’s clear position against transgenderism. Barry Law recognizes its own chapter of the ACLU, which advocates for abortion access — also in conflict with Catholic teaching.”
“If these student organizations are somehow not in conflict with a Catholic university’s purpose, then TPUSA certainly isn’t,” he continued. “The obvious disparate treatment confirms that Barry Law’s stated reason for prohibiting the TPUSA chapter was simply a pretext for censoring religiously conservative students.”
Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old co-founder of Turning Point USA, was shot and killed Sept. 10 while he was speaking at an event at Utah Valley University.
Fox News Digital reached out to Barry University for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
