Mullane Baumiller, a sophomore in Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, and a track and field and cross country athlete, announced on Instagram March 18 that she was starting a Turning Point USA chapter at BU, not affiliated with the University.
“The conservative community is quite hidden here on campus,” Baumiller said in an interview. “So I really just felt the need that everyone deserves a space where they can talk freely.”
TPUSA is a nonprofit organization established by Charlie Kirk in 2012 that advocates for conservative politics on high school, college and university campuses. The organization has a presence at over 3,500 schools, including over 800 college chapters.
The organization promotes “principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government,” according to TPUSA’s website.
The BU chapter’s executive board currently consists of a president, vice president and secretary, positions Turning Point requires for affiliation with the organization, Mullane said. The other board members requested their names not be included, she said.
“One of our main focuses we’ve discussed is to be able to understand everyone’s views. We want to literally just create a respectful environment for any opinions,” Baumiller said. “We are not here to promote any specific politician or anything in that matter.”
Baumiller said the club’s goals are “up in the air” as it navigates whether it will be affiliated with BU or remain independent. Baumiller said she would like to be officially recognized by next school year to allow for more “BU-based events.”
Baumiller said she has been in contact with TPUSA chapters at nearby colleges about potential collaborations for future events, but did not specify what these events would entail.
Around 20 members have reached out to Baumiller in response to the Instagram account to see how they can get involved.
“Our mission is to promote a safe and respectful environment,” Baumiller said. “There are a lot of students on this campus who strongly disagree with what we are promoting so that does create a little bit of a struggle.”
Ethan Calaguas, freshman in the School of Hospitality Administration, said he learned of the new BU chapter after coming across the organization’s Instagram account.
“Whoever started this, it takes a lot of courage,” Calaguas said. “I really respect them for doing this, and I respect how they’re giving a different type of viewpoint and they’re already using a larger, non-profit organization that’s worldwide famous … to help expand it.”
A TPUSA chapter at BU was previously established in May 2018, as seen on a Facebook account with 185 followers, which became inactive several months later. Another chapter was launched in 2019, according to an Instagram account with 331 followers, that became inactive during the summer of 2021.
Following Charlie Kirk’s assasination in September 2025, the organization entered a new chapter under the leadership of his widow, Erika Kirk, a shift Calaguas said has kept the group politically relevant.
Student body President Matthew Feliciano wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press that there are several other activist organizations operating in the BU community without affiliation who “do a lot of good for students.”
“I am very curious to see how they fit with and interact with the student organization diaspora on our campus,” Feliciano wrote. “I wonder how the organization will function, what kind of space they will create, and what kinds of voices and rhetoric they will empower.”
