Turning Point USA @ George Fox University Presents: Isabel Brown
By: Jen Wright
On Monday evening, George Fox University’s (GFU) collegiate chapter of Turning Point USA hosted speaker Isabel Brown to talk to students about free speech and campus activism, and promote her new book, “Frontlines: Finding My Voice on an American College Campus.” Around 25-30 students and others attended the talk that lasted almost two hours.
The event began with “Proud to Be An American” blasted from Hoover 105’s speakers, and then replayed after an episode of a podcast started. The few minutes of discussion about brain tumors that sounded from the speakers were honestly much easier to stomach than the crooning chorus repeating “and I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free” over and over.
As students trickled in, some masked, others unmasked or with masks tucked under their noses, I realized that this was going to be an event unlike any other events I’d attended on campus. For one, I felt unsafe and worried, as students were sitting in clusters close together, completely disregarding the official COVID-19 safety guidelines GFU requires students to adhere to on campus. “Free,” indeed.
Brown also removed her mask immediately upon stepping to the front of the room, and her mask remained off for the entirety of her talk. At a time when COVID-19 cases are yet again surging nationwide, this felt more than reckless--it felt downright disrespectful.
I decided to attend the event because I knew I needed to stay informed about what was happening anywhere on campus, in any group. I also knew that many students at GFU claim allegiance to conservative political ideals and beliefs, which I do not, and so I needed to hear their perspective. That’s what journalism is all about, right?
Well, instead of a robust discussion about holding space for the “civil discourse” GFU is recently so invested in promoting, Isabel Brown parroted many of the popular conservative catchphrases you can find on the Turning Point website. She insulted and trivialized different groups of people--both political and social--and even encouraged students to question the validity of the science behind mask wearing and social distancing.
Brown also referenced the prospects of relaxing COVID-19 restrictions, laughing at how people said they were looking forward to holding gatherings and summer barbecues again. “Should we tell them that we’ve already been doing that for, like, a long time?” Brown said, to student laughter.
I have not attended a non-academic gathering of more than three people since last March, when I went to a concert the weekend before lockdowns were announced in Oregon. I know people who have contracted COVID-19 and survived, and I know people who have lost precious loved ones to COVID-19. This is not the time to be reckless, and Brown’s mocking of the pain, care and concern of people across the world was infuriating.
Brown told several anecdotes of her own time as an undergraduate, and one story in particular stood out to me: in between talking about her struggles as a conservative student on the Colorado State University campus--which is currently experiencing a student movement to ban Turning Point USA from campus--Brown talked about the 2016 election.
Brown said one of her professors had walked into class the day after the election results were announced, dressed all in black, and expressed sympathy to students and directed them to support resources on campus. While she was telling this story, Brown was laughing, and so were other students.
It stood out to me because I also remember that day very clearly: I came to my literature class at my homeschool co-op, determined to not look at the news until later. I had just come from an early morning workout, and I was the teacher’s assistant for the class. I knew the teacher and most of my classmates were conservative Evangelicals, but when she stood up and started rejoicing at the victory of then president-elect Donald Trump, my classmates started cheering and praising God, and my heart dropped into my stomach.
In contrast, I rejoiced at the removal of Trump from office this past election, and members of my own family reacted with sorrow, fear and emotional outbursts. Did I cry in 2016? Yes, and they told me it was for the best and that it was God’s will. Did they cry this year? Yes, and I comforted them, and did not tell them it was God’s will. What is the common factor here? Is it weakness, or is it subjective sorrow? Is other people’s fear and pain really as laughable as Brown and my fellow students found it?
Brown talked at length about the importance of pursuing “objective truth” and doing your own research, and also threw in a discussion about the possibility of COVID-19 being engineered in Chinese labs. This was obviously not a contradiction, since according to Brown, her political and moral beliefs can be both objective and wholly influenced by her faith.
Brown also addressed “cancel culture”--which was actually started by conservative Evangelicals (see Colin Kaepernick, Starbucks and Li’l Nas X)--and asked students to call out the various things victimized by cancel culture in the past year. They called out examples like Goya Foods, the controversy with the mascot “Aunt Jemima,” J.K. Rowling and of course, Dr. Seuss, even though the Dr. Seuss estate made the independent decision to recall only select books due to racist stereotypes in the story.
Early on in the talk, Brown, who proudly refers to herself as “Gen Z,” prompted students to call out things they associated with the “Millennial” generation. My fellow students eagerly provided terms like “snowflake,” “soft,” “trigger” and referred to the generation as “the loudest whiners in the room.” Later, in response to a question about the negative effects of polarizing, Brown said that polarization is dangerous and inhibits free thinking and progress.
I agree that polarization is a huge problem in the United States today, and so does GFU, if the schools efforts to encourage civil discourse are any proof of that. So I come away from this wondering why GFU would allow such a divisive speaker to present.
According to the GFU website, GFU’s Turning Point USA club is “a group of liberty-loving activists whose mission is to educate students about the importance of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government,” and that they focus on “maintaining a safe environment where everyone’s voices can be heard and debated in a civil way.” Student Sammy Oriza is the club’s leader.
The Turning Point website states three beliefs: “the United States of America is the greatest country in the history of the world, the US Constitution is the most exceptional political document ever written, and capitalism is the most moral and proven economic system ever discovered.”
Also featured on the website is a “professor watchlist” where anyone can “report” a professor for expressing “Leftist” ideology. Even putting ethical concerns aside, it can’t be denied that the existence of that feature is inconsistent with the “civil discourse” and anti-polarization efforts Brown and Turning Point say they promote.
Oh, and Brown mentioned multiple times that there were lovely buttons available on her merchandise table, featuring “socialism sucks” emblazoned across them. But we’re all about freedom of expression, civil discourse, and, according to one student, “no bulletproof vests” here, right?