By Josh Siatkowski | Staff Writer
After late adjustments, Turning Point USA’s stop at Baylor shifted from a public community event into a private, student-centered gathering that left over 80% of ticketholders unable to attend.
In the days leading up to the event, which was planned to host Trump Organization Executive Vice President Donald Trump Jr., political commentator Benny Johnson and “Border Czar” Tom Homan, attendees navigated speaker changes, attendance requirement updates and more. Tuesday saw Trump Jr. replaced with Texas Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton, while Wednesday morning saw numerous members of the press denied access.
Because of the updated press rules, The Lariat reported on the night from general admission seating, following all rules posted to attendees before publishing its coverage.
Just hours before the event was a final notice: thousands of general admission tickets were voided to accommodate a “Baylor-only” policy that the university said was always in place.
Because of the changes, Waco Hall closed off over half of its 2,200 seats, including all of the balcony section. Students and a few Baylor community members occupied nearly all of the available seats. Baylor’s official attendance measure, based on ticket scans, came in at 438.
But the vast majority of those who planned to attend were cut off from entry, as over 4,500 non-students registered for the event expecting to be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis. With the short notice, some of these 4,500 did not hear about the rule change until they were turned away at the doors.
Bob Sutherby of Big Sandy, Tenn., was one of those ticketholders. A consistent supporter and audience member of Turning Point, Sutherby said he was disappointed to see his 11-hour drive end the way it did.
“It hurts our heart,” Sutherby said with his wife. “You drive from Big Sandy, Tennessee — that’s a great distance to come down to Texas.”
He also expressed confusion at the decision to keep the general public out when student attendees didn’t fill up the venue. As he stood at the entrance about an hour before the event, he said that the vast majority of Waco Hall would be empty.
“There’s a capacity of 2,000 people in Waco Hall,” Sutherby said. “As you can clearly see, we don’t have 100 people here. So why turn people away, until you have 2,000 people?”
Olan Tisdale, who lives three hours away in Fredericksburg, was also frustrated by what he said was a lapse in communication.
“They advertised this as it was for the public as well,” Tisdale said outside Waco Hall. “Something happened where they didn’t communicate.”
In an email to ticketholders, Turning Point USA clarified that it was not responsible for the voids and that the organization, in fact, disagreed with the decision.
“We strongly believe this is the wrong decision by school administrators,” the email reads.
Vice President for Student Life Dr. Sharra Hynes said in a statement the students-only policy was always in place for TPUSA’s event. But The Lariat reported in March, without rebuttal from the administration, that the event was open to the general public. Tickets were also sold through Waco Hall without confirmation of student status for weeks before the event.
“The University was very clear with event organizers from the beginning that the event would be for students, faculty and staff only, with the addition of 125 invited guests from the organizing group(s),” Hynes said via email.
Students who did make it in said they felt for the thousands who were unable to go. But they also thought that limiting it to students might have been a precautionary measure.
“I feel like everybody should have been able to go,” Carmel Valley, Calif., junior Lucy Johnson said. “But I do think it might have been for security reasons.”
Inside, the conversation mostly focused on topics unrelated to the planning and execution of the event. Paxton opened the night and spoke briefly about his time at Baylor and did not address his run for Senate. He was followed by TPUSA Baylor President Peter Fernandez, who thanked the crowd and introduced “The Benny Show” host Benny Johnson, one of the keynote speakers.
In his 20-minute talk, Benny Johnson quipped on news of the day, like Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s financial reporting controversy and birthrate discrepancies between liberals and conservatives. Following this was a fireside chat between Homan and Benny Johnson, which focused primarily on Homan’s work in reducing illegal immigration. The event concluded with a Q&A session. As questions reflected both favorable and critical views of the speakers, conversations remained cordial.
While all on stage stuck mostly to topics like border security and having children, Benny Johnson did comment briefly on the situation as the event began.
“Let them have the top row,” Benny Johnson said in reference to the blacked-out balcony section. “Christ said, ‘Let the children come unto me and do not stop them.’”
Despite the limitations, however, students expressed satisfaction with the crowd and its engagement throughout the event.
“I think it would have been nice to have a lot of people, but I think it was still a good turnout,” New Braunfels junior Natasha Samson said after the event.
