Supporters of Turning Point USA at the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law have teamed up with their undergraduate counterparts as the younger students battle to start a chapter of the conservative group.
On Oct. 15, the Student Government Association (SGA) Senate at Loyola barred a Turning Point chapter from becoming an officially recognized organization on campus, sparking a national outcry. Now, two law students have stepped in to help the conservative group draft and file an appeal with the SGA.
"I just found that this was not probably right for an SGA to determine whether or not students should have access to an organization," Loyola law student Ethan Estis told Fox News Digital, adding that similar denials of new Turning Point chapters are happening across the country.
Estis, who enlisted the help of a second law student to draft the appeal, worked as a field representative for Turning Point during his time as an undergraduate at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, and has stayed in contact with leaders of the expansive conservative organization.
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"This one just hit home for me, and I wanted to help as much as I could," he said.
Estis spoke with the current Turning Point field representative in Louisiana, who connected him with the undergraduates.
"Reviewing the SGA grievance of why they denied the charter, it was fabricated through equity and not through law," Estis said. "Most of it was subjective reasoning. They didn't really root it in any of the laws or rules and regulations that they're supposed to follow, and it was purely subjective. And that was our basis in attack in the written appeal that we did."
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Estis noted that one of the reasons the chapter was officially denied is because, according to the SGA, Turning Point is too similar to other Christian organizations on campus. But as Estis pointed out, Turning Point isn't even an explicitly Christian group, and advocates for conservative principles like free markets and limited government.
Inasmuch as Turning Point does promote Christianity, he knocked the idea by some SGA leaders and student opponents of the group that its values do not align with the university's values.
In opposition to the chapter, a freshman named Rosalina Framboise reportedly said that the group doesn't belong on the Jesuit Catholic campus because of late Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk's assertions that, "queer people are trying to corrupt your children," and, "transgenderism and gender fluidity are lies that hurt people and abuse kids."
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The Catholic Church does not endorse gay marriage or transgenderism, and just this week Catholic bishops banned so-called "gender-affirming care" from Catholic hospitals.
The Loyola New Orleans SGA Court of Review confirmed that it received the students' appeal, and said that it plans to make a decision about the chapter's fate before Nov. 21.
Estis said that the SGA Senate's official appellate process remains somewhat unclear, though he believes the Court of Review has the ability to either overrule the SGA Senate's decision on its own, or send the matter back to the SGA Senate for another review.
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"They didn't know exactly where to go on this appeal," Estis said of the Turning Point organizers, calling them "incredible" people. "And they sent over the form to me of what the appeal looks like, which, by the way, Loyola was not overtly transparent in... telling them how to appeal."
"They were very, very grateful for [the help]. They told me their story. I wrote out exactly what I thought [the appeal] should look like," Estis said. "They made some edits and changes, as did I. But they didn't have a lot of guidance from the get-go of where to go."
As the group waits to learn its fate, Estis told Fox News Digital that he does not believe the SGA should have the right to deny official chapter status to a group, provided that that group has met all the requirements that Loyola demands, as Turning Point has.
"By limiting the organizations that exist on campus simply because of subjective-based reasoning that the SGA is using here just is not right," he said.
Loyola said it has supported and will continue to support the process of student government outlined in its student government handbook, and that the Turning Point founders are going through the same process that all other student organizations face when being formed.
"The university consistently upholds this peer-to-peer process and emphasizes fairness, inclusion and respect for differing viewpoints as part of its Jesuit educational mission," the school told Fox News Digital.
"Moreover, Loyola encourages civil discourse and open dialogue across all perspectives, which are essential to our Jesuit, Catholic mission and our shared commitment to the pursuit of truth. Our Catholic and Jesuit identity calls us to think critically, engage differing viewpoints with compassion and respect, and support student self-governance as a meaningful part of the Loyola experience."
