Christian University Won’t Let Turning Point Host On-Campus Event

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Chip Roy said Wednesday they plan to investigate a university’s decision to block a Turning Point USA event on campus—a claim that was disputed by the school.

Paxton’s and Roy’s comments came in response to reports that Texas Christian University, a private school in Fort Worth, Texas, had denied the student chapter’s request to host an on-campus event featuring gender detransitioner Chloe Cole.

“This doesn’t look like free speech to me,” Paxton wrote on the social media platform X on Wednesday morning. “I’m going to look into this.”

“My friend … [Chloe Cole] testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee,” wrote Roy, R-Texas, who is leaving Congress to run for state attorney general. “Expect an inquiry as to why she’s not welcomed by you … ”

Cole, who detransitioned at 16 and now speaks out against “gender-affirming care” for minors, wrote on X on Tuesday that the university had been making its Turning Point chapter jump through “arbitrary hoops” for ”a while” before ultimately denying its request for an available room.

She described the university as “canceling” her, writing on X on Tuesday, “Christian colleges (and otherwise) need to step up to keep democracy and free speech alive in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.”

But a TCU spokesperson disputed the event had been canceled, saying it had not been officially booked to begin with.

“On September 18, TCU successfully hosted a TPUSA event to honor the life of Charlie Kirk, who had previously spoken on TCU’s campus to students and the community. Separate from this event, an outside party, not affiliated with TCU, invited an external speaker to appear on our campus on Oct. 7. The student chapter of TPUSA then requested that TCU host the Oct. 7 event for 700 to 1,000 people. The requested space was already booked with another student event,” the spokesperson said in a statement to The Daily Signal, adding:

“We explored options and notified the group on Sept. 25 that a secure space was not available, given the short notice, but we offered to find another date or space for the event. TCU never canceled this event, as it was never booked.”

The event will now be held instead at Birchman Baptist Church, also in Fort Worth, Texas. “The show goes on, but not on campus,” Cole wrote. 

Texas Christian University, affiliated with the Disciples of Christ denomination, says its mission is “to educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community.” 

The school previously came under fire in 2023 for offering “The Queer Art of Drag,” a course designed to develop an understanding of “drag history and practices”—and which culminated in students participating in a live drag performance.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated since publication to include a statement from TCU.