Rutgers TPUSA officers slam shutdown petition as ‘blatantly defamatory’

Officers at Rutgers University Turning point USA The first semester is opposing a petition from a tech developer calling for the conservative group to disband, calling the effort “grossly defamatory.”

“The petition to disband our Turning Point chapter is blatant slander,” Ava Cowan, outreach coordinator for the Turning Point USA chapter at Rutgers, told Fox News Digital in a statement.

“The accusations of inciting violence and making threats are complete lies,” Cowan said. “The same people who claim we are suppressing their freedom of expression are actively trying to silence us for telling the truth. This is not only ridiculous, it is hypocritical and ridiculous.”

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Officers at Rutgers University’s Turning Point USA chapter are resisting a petition from a technology developer calling for the conservative group to disband, calling the effort “grossly defamatory.” (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Earlier this week, a tech developer launched a petition on Change.org to remove the Rutgers TPUSA chapter, accusing the group of promoting “hate speech” and creating a “toxic environment.”

“Having lived in New Jersey all my life, I have always cherished the comprehensive educational environment we have created here.” Petition on Change.org The readings, which appear to have been organized by Alexander De Filippo, who is listed at the beginning of the petition.

De Filippo, who does not mention Rutgers University on his LinkedIn page, is a former student at Rochester Institute of Technology, majoring in game design and development, and minoring in music, technology, and creative writing.

“The Rutgers chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) continually promotes hate speech and incitement to violence against our community,” the petition added. “This disturbing behavior has created a toxic environment that has already led to tragic consequences. It is disturbing that a respected professor felt forced to leave the country, fearing for the safety of his family due to the threats and harassment sown by this group.”

“Any opinion that challenges their worldview is immediately labeled as ‘hate speech,’ a meaningless term that is weaponized to control dissent and protect their false narrative,” Cowan told Fox News Digital. “The petition, Bray’s retreat abroad, and my assembly by deranged leftists at Rutgers all tell the same story: They know they “They lose.”

Last weekTurning Point USA chapter at Rutgers I launched a petition To remove Mark Bray, a Rutgers University professor, over concerns about his past statements supportive of Antifa.

Bray is the author of the bookAntifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, The Anarchist Inquisition: Assassins, Activists, and Martyrs in Spain and France, and Subtitles Anarchy: The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street He said he was moving his family to Europe due to safety concerns.

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Charlie Kirk speaks before his assassination during Turn Point’s visit to Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, Wednesday, September 10, 2025. (Tess Crowley/Deseret News via AP)

In “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,” Bray noted that “at least 50 percent of the author’s proceeds will go to the International Anti-Fascist Defense Fund administered by more than three hundred Antifas from eighteen countries.”

In a September 12 Posted on Blueskya social media platform popular with progressives, Bray promoted an event he was presenting on September 13 in New York City titled “Another War Is Possible: Experiences in Combating Deportation, Fascism, and Capitalist Globalization.”

in October 4 post “It is true that sometimes the law holds Trump back and gives us some semblance of safety,” Bray wrote of Plosky. “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.”

“Street blockades and other forms of confrontational opposition can undoubtedly be very useful against any political opponent,” Bray wrote in his book Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook, “but once far-right formations can broadcast their xenophobic and dystopian agendas, we must flood them with better alternatives to the austerity and incompetence of ruling parties on the right and left.” left. Militant anti-fascism in itself is necessary but not sufficient to build a new world in the shell of the old world.

Megyn Doyle, a student at Rutgers University and treasurer of the Turning Point USA chapter who started the Change.org petition to remove Bray, told Fox News Digital in a statement that Di Filippo’s petition is slanderous.

“The petition proves once again that conservative students are always subjected to hate when they speak out about issues of concern,” Doyle said.

She added: “The petition is defamatory in every way possible. We do not condone death threats, hate speech or harassment towards anyone who opposes us.” “To suggest that we are responsible for making such threats against this professor is completely untrue. Our petition aims to educate students, alumni, donors, and even non-students about Mark Bray, a professor and supporter aligned with Antifa. Many who signed my petition believe that Mark Bray should not be employed at Rutgers University because of these ties, and his endorsement of pro-political violence in his book, ‘Antifa: A Guide Anti-fascism.

Doyle also said the petition to remove TPUSA’s chapter “does not reflect a genuine concern for freedom of expression. Instead, it seeks to suppress the voices of conservative students and restrict their right to freely express their opinions.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Rutgers for comment, as well as Di Filippo via Change.org.

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Megyn Doyle, a student at Rutgers University and treasurer of the Turning Point USA chapter, who started the Change.org petition to remove Bray, told Fox News Digital in a statement that Di Filippo’s petition is slanderous. (Rutgers University)

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