Charlie Kirk was perhaps best known for debating culture war issues with young college students and promoting what he deemed to be traditional American and Christian values. Social media videos of these debates only offer a glimpse of the legacy Kirk left behind. In 2016, his organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA) launched Professor Watchlist—a website dedicated to exposing university faculty and professors who allegedly discriminate against conservative students and “advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” It features a list of more than 300 professors and faculty members, categorized under labels such as “anti–Judeo-Christian values,” “terror supporters,” and “socialists.”  

After the launch of Professor Watchlist, agitation campaigns targeting progressive faculty and professors ensued across the country. This resulted in professors being harassed, doxed, and physically assaulted outside of the classroom; some even received death threats. CU Denver was one of many universities targeted by TPUSA. Some faculty members who were singled out moved to different departments, while others parted ways with the institution entirely. 

TPUSA argues that universities harbor a liberal bias, leading to discrimination and unequal treatment of students with conservative views. Professor Watchlist specifically indicates their mission is to “expose bias” on college campuses by documenting “professors who discriminate against conservative students.”  

Courses that focus on Political Theory, Ethnic Studies, Gender Studies, and Feminism have consistently been targets of these organized campaigns; as a result, many professors have banned the use of recording devices during class and stopped using certain course materials.  

Charlie Kirk left a lasting mark on academia, and progressive politics at large. TPUSA is still active and has chapters in over 900 universities across the nation. Since his death, over 3,200 requests for new campus chapters have been filed.  

“I would describe Turing Point USA as a political organization that’s meant to sow disaffection related to racial, gender, and sexual politics, even though it frames itself as an organization that’s promoting mainstream conservative politics. I think it’s an extremist organization and is a dangerous one in regard to anti-intellectualism” said Dr. K. Mohrman, CU Denver Ethnic Studies professor. “They tend to attack or target professors who work in the inter-disciplines like Ethnic Studies and Gender Studies, but anyone in any discipline or field who’s doing some kind of critical work that’s meant to challenge the mainstream narrative of US history can be targeted. So, it’s not anti-intellectualism in the general sense, it’s anti progressive-ism.”  

In 2017, CU Denver Ethnic Studies professor Chad Shomura was targeted by TPUSA. “There was a student in my very first semester at CU Denver who was taking my class called ‘Political Thought,’ and they were secretly recording the class discussions in order to get me on the Professor Watchlist,” said Shomura. “I was accused by that Turning Point member of having a liberal bias; but she never filed a grade complaint in my class, because I wasn’t biased.” 

While TPUSA employs Professor Watchlist to expose university faculty it claims exhibit liberal bias, their goals as an organization are unclear according to Shomura 

“They’re coming from a place of grievance and lack a clear vision of what they want the university to be. The sense that I get is that they’re less interested in trying to pursue any sort of good-faith dialogue and process with actual faculty members. They’re more interested in publicity and shining a bad light on higher education in general. So, Professor Watchlist and the kinds of news reporting and publications that come out of TPUSA are designed to galvanize conservative hostility towards academic institutions, and towards faculty members. That’s the point.” 

TPUSA frames its actions as a defense of free speech and the free exchange of ideas. However, this claim has invited speculation about its actual motives from critics, since institutions of higher education are already spaces dedicated to open discussion and dialogue.  

“They never overtly or directly call for censorship of free speech but what they did in practice certainly had that kind of effect, and the Professor Watchlist is a prime example of this,” said Shomura. “We can ask if Turning Point actually did anything to defend the speech of those they disagreed with. But that’s the thing: they say they’re for free speech, but they really only mean their speech.” 

The agitation campaigns associated with TPUSA are part of a larger assault on academic freedom. An examination of their financial backing indicates that organizations like TPUSA may be pushing a specific political agenda. Their funding can be traced back to networks of wealthy political think tanks affiliated with groups like the Koch donor network, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars. With dark money benefactors lurking in the shadows, the gravity of this situation becomes even more unsettling.  

For students and faculty concerned about TPUSA on Auraria campus, Professor Shomura shared his thoughts.  

“My advice would be to not give them any attention, to not engage them, because Turning Point USA thrives on depictions of students as angry, unreasonable, and ill-informed,” said Shomura. “That was Charlie Kirk’s whole style. Their whole point is to rile people up, to get them to lose their cool and to look bad, so they can circulate those videos to conservative audiences, which then emboldened them even further to think that the left is a bunch of woke idiots who are just hostile to people who supposedly just want to have a good natured discussion. Don’t feed the machine. Just walk on by. And I think if everyone just walk on by, Turning Point would have nothing.”