Rutgers backs professor tied to Antifa, targets opposing students

New Brunswick, New Jersey – Turning point USA Rutgers University officers are speaking out as university officials seek to remove them from leadership roles, and as the university Senate votes overwhelmingly to support Antifa-aligned professor Mark Bray.

“The message we want to get across to students across America is that this is a time when we need to speak up,” said Ava Cowan, the chapter’s outreach coordinator. Fox News Digital In an interview Friday.

On Friday, the Rutgers University Senate voted 110-4 to pass a “resolution in support of… Academic freedom and freedom of expressionTo support Mark Bray, author of “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,” who has faced opposition for his pro-Antifa rhetoric.

Rutgers leader calls for TPUSA officers to be fired after they summoned ANTFA-linked professor

Rutgers University professor Mark Bray, known to some as “Dr. Antifa,” and TPUSA students Megyn Doyle (left) and Ava Cowan (right). (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, Rachel Del Guidice)

“This is a time when we stand firm in our beliefs and speak the truth,” Cowan said. “So, I believe this is a time when conservative students across America need to start speaking their minds. It’s time for us to speak the truth. It’s time to be bold with our convictions, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here at Rutgers.”

“The only way you can make a difference is to speak out, start a petition, and start addressing these concerns before a Rutgers administration like ours tries to oust you,” Megyn Doyle, a student at Rutgers University and treasurer of Turning Point USA, told Fox News Digital in an interview.

Cowan and Doyle now face possible removal from their leadership roles at TPUSA, an issue that only came up after the pair launched a petition calling for Bray to be removed.

In an email obtained by Fox News Digital, Karima Woodyard, director of student engagement and leadership at Rutgers University, said Doyle and Cowan should be removed from their officer positions and a new election should be held.

According to the email sent Monday, Woodyard said neither Doyle nor Cowan are qualified to serve as officers.

Earlier this month, Doyle I launched a petition To remove Mark Bray, citing concerns about his past statements supporting the Antifa movement.

The Rutgers branch, a turning point in the United States of America, launches a petition to expel the fire professor and calls him “DR ANTIFA.”

Mark Bray, assistant professor of history at Rutgers University, waits in a hotel room in Newark, New Jersey, before a planned trip to Spain on October 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

Bray, an assistant professor at Rutgers University, has written several books defending the anarchist and antifa movements, including The Anarchist Inquisition: Killers, Activists, and Martyrs in Spain and France and Translating Chaos: The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street.

In previous online posts, Bray has expressed strong support for “anti-racism,” saying in a message October 4 post On the website of Bluesky, a social media app popular with liberals, “It is true that the law sometimes holds Trump back and gives us some semblance of safety. But the more we rely on the law as our shield, the stronger it becomes as a sword when Trump turns it to his advantage and uses it against us. Only collective anti-fascism, whether legal or not, can save us.”

‘doctor. ANTIFA professor RUTGERS announces his move to Europe after TPUSA petition calls for his dismissal

in “Antifa“Anti-Fascist Handbook,” Bray wrote, “Our goal should be that in twenty years, those who voted for Trump will no longer feel so comfortable that they cannot share that truth publicly. We may not always be able to change someone’s beliefs, but we sure can make expressing them politically, socially, economically, and sometimes financially costly.”

Bray recently announced that he was moving his family to Europe for “safety reasons.”

Doyle told Fox News Digital that the opposition against them appears to be linked to their opposition to Bray.

The coastal town of Calella de Palafrugell on the Costa Brava, Catalonia, left, and Mark Bray, assistant professor of history at Rutgers University. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, iStock)

“The student body president wants to remove us from our positions because of our student status,” Doyle said. “Ava Cowan is a graduate, and I’m a student from a different campus, and that’s why they want to expel us. We weren’t notified why we were suddenly being investigated, and it only happened because of opposition to Mark Bray.”

“She claims that we are not qualified to hold our positions because of our students’ technical status,” Kwan added. “It’s completely unfair. Before this whole situation, there was no issue at all with Megyn and I retaining our positions on the Executive Board. So, it seems clear that this is a very politically motivated move and clear enforcement of procedures, selective enforcement of procedures. This is completely unfair and completely unjustified.”

Cowan, who has been criticized on platforms like Reddit, said she is an advocate for free speech, but felt it was necessary to act given Bray’s ties to Antifa.

“Of course, we want different values, we want different beliefs, we want to have conversations with people,” Cowan said.

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“This is what the First Amendment is about. We want to have conversations with people. However, Mark Bray has taken it a step further,” she added. “He supports political violence. He supports preventive political violence against whomever he sees and believes is justified. We do not feel safe on campus with him. We do not feel safe hiring him at Rutgers. We also do not believe it is fair for his salary to be funded by New Jersey taxpayers.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Rutgers said: “Turning Point USA is a recognized student organization on the Rutgers New Brunswick campus. Like all student organizations, it is expected to operate in accordance with our stated policies and procedures.”

“The University has determined that two individuals publicly presenting themselves as officers of the TPUSA chapter were not properly registered as officers in accordance with University procedures. Additionally, these individuals do not meet the eligibility requirements for officer positions in a university student organization in New Brunswick.”

“The university is reviewing this internally and is working with the chapter to address compliance and ensure continued operations of the organization on campus, consistent with our approach to all student organizations.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Bray for comment.