Marshall students start Turning Point USA chapter on campus

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WOWK) — It’s been 12 days since public figure Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University, and since his death, Kirk’s nonprofit Turning Point USA has grown with new chapters at universities all across the country.

Marshall University is a part of that list for the first time in a while.

Freshman student Branson Tolliver serves as president of the new Turning Point USA Marshall University chapter and said it’s been a long time coming. Even though the club officially started on Sept. 17, he had been wanting to set it up for months.

“The field representative for Turning Point was actually here the day that he passed,” he said. “So, she gathered a ton of people, a group of people, and we pretty much signed the chapter charter a few days later.”

In the short weeks since their founding, the Marshall University chapter has collected more than 150 members. Tolliver said their goal is to create a community for people to share their beliefs.

“We just want to give a voice to the voiceless,” he said. “People may want to voice their opinions, but feel like they can’t or they feel like an outcast.”

Sophomore student Titus Hamm is serving as the vice president of the organization and said they are excited to finally have a space.

“We already have a Democratic group here, but the Republican group was dissolved, actually. So this gives us an opportunity,” Hamm said.

One that they say will be respectful and promote non-violent debate.

“We can just have a civil conversation just like Charlie wanted us to have,” Hamm said, “because there’s no sense in political violence or violence at all just because you don’t believe what other people believe.”

Turning Point USA has more than 800 collegiate chapters across the United States, including at West Virginia University, and more than 1,000 in secondary schools.

Tolliver and Hamm both said anyone and everyone is welcome to join their small movement; you don’t even have to be a Marshall University student.