Chloe Appel is president of TCU’s Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter. She is very open about her political stance and is confident in her beliefs. Chloe feels very comfortable expressing her beliefs on campus as a whole. In the classroom, she feels that self-censorship really only occurs when the professor is open about their stance and it is different from hers because professors ultimately control the grades. She often tables for TPUSA, and there is really no pushback from people walking by. This semester, TCU TPUSA is hosting TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk. To her surprise, there has been little pushback from TCU administration or students. This shows good faith on the university’s part, seeing as there has been conflict in the past. It took TPUSA three semesters for TCU to allow this organization to be established on campus.
There has, however, been hate comments on TCU TPUSA Instagram posts. These comments have been left up because they have the right to speak about the subject. There was an Instagram post by the TCU Democrats, where they urged TCU to not allow Charlie Kirk to come to campus. When members of TPUSA commented on their posts in response, comments were deleted and users who commented were blocked. This was an incident where censorship was in full swing: online by fellow TCU students. Social media incidents, like this, are the most blatant form of censorship that Chloe has experienced when it comes to TCU.
“If you think your opinions are correct and you think you stand in fact, you aren’t going to be bothered by someone who says something to you because you know you are correct and can counter what they say. But, if you are afraid of being proven wrong, you will silence everyone around you.” - Chloe Appel
Comments