Turning Point USA won't be allowed to use Norwin High School for event

Norwin School District denied a conservative organization’s request to use the high school Oct. 24 for what it described as a motivational speech.

A flyer promoting the speech in Norwin by Turning Point USA’s Stephen Davis, part of the organization’s speakers bureau, may have been posted prematurely, the district said. The school district said it just had given preliminary approval to the program at the high school auditorium. The program was to be held the afternoon of Oct. 24, after students received an early dismissal. Students could choose whether to attend.

The district administration said Monday it denied the request based on violent student protests at a lecture by the organization’s president last year.

“Upon becoming aware of violence associated with one of this speaker’s prior events, out of an abundance of caution, final approval was not granted,” the district’s administration said. The school district initially had given preliminary approval for the program.

No sponsor from the school district was listed on the flyer, and the district did not reveal who had asked Norwin to host the speaker.

The violence Norwin alluded to regarding a Turning Point USA program occurred in March 2023 when students and nonstudents opposed to Turning Point President Charley Kirk’s appearance at the University of California-Davis. The protesters broke windows at the lecture hall and attempted to stop people from going to the program by targeting them with pepper spray, according to news accounts.

In September, Kirk and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy appeared on the University of Pittsburgh’s Oakland campus in an event hosted by Turning Point USA’s Pitt chapter as part of Kirk’s “You’re Being Brainwashed Tour.”

Related:

• Charlie Kirk appearance at Pitt elicits student political discourse