Wichita State’s Turning Point USA held a speaker event featuring Olivia Krolczyk, an ambassador for the Riley Gaines Center, a leadership institute that aims to “create powerful leaders to combat radical leftist ideology in their schools.”
Krolczyk shared her story regarding a failing grade following allegations of transphobia. She travels with the Riley Gaines Center across the country to campuses, school board meetings and more in hopes of “advocating for the protection of our rights as women to privacy, safety, and equal opportunity.”
The issue at the forefront of the organization is transgender women being able to compete in women’s sports.
“My story shows that the issue of men in women’s sports goes far beyond the pool, the track, the locker room, the bathroom,” Krolczyk said. “It affects students, like you guys sitting here, all across the nation just like I was.”
Riley Gaines started the Riley Gaines Center after competing against Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer from the University of Pennsylvania. After competing against and sharing a locker room with Thomas, Gaines decided she would take a stand against trans women competing in women’s sports.
WSU’s local TPUSA chapter focuses on freedom of speech and open conversations on campuses.
The TPUSA website says it exists to “Empower young activists to get involved in the fight for free markets and limited government. Through building strong campus networks, organizing conferences, and equipping activists with the knowledge and strategies needed to combat the left, TPUSA empowers young people to make a difference within their community.”
While TPUSA is a conservative group, Savanna Sparrow, a student in TPUSA, said she thinks understanding both sides of any argument is important.
“No matter what side of the road you walk on, there’s always something else to be heard and something else to learn,” Sparrow said.
Vince Farwell is an ambassador in Spectrum: LGBTQ & Allies. Farwell argued that biological advantages alone are not enough grounds to keep trans women out of women’s sports.
“Michael Phelps, he has abnormally large lungs, but he is a cis(gender) man,” Farwell said. “So does that mean that he has a biological advantage and that he shouldn’t compete in men’s sports?”
The event, held in the CAC Theater, featured a welcome table with buttons and stickers free to attendees, various members of TPUSA to guide visitors to their seats, three police officers and no protestors. The theater room was made up of friends and family of the TPUSA students.
“Obviously, like at WSU, we hear a lot of the DEI, or any of the LGBTQ agenda,” said Mason Fouquet, WSU’s TPUSA treasurer. “… Therefore, I think it’s awesome that we get to hear a few of the opposing views.”
When asked about pushing against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives after the event, Collin Schmidt, event coordinator for Spectrum, said, “I do fear it, quite immensely … It’s a mindset that is really dangerous and it starts there. It starts small and then snowballs.”
Ryan Whalen, the president of TPUSA at WSU, felt differently.
“I think it’s just important that we do show that there is a counterculture for, you know, people who do believe these ideals,” Whalen said.
But, ultimately, members of TPUSA emphasized the importance of free speech and the exchange of ideas on campus.
“I think it’s just important that we can have open dialogue here on campus,” said William Crawford, the social media curator for WSU’s TPUSA. “… Free speech is very important, especially for our organization. That’s probably a top-five thing we promote, if not number one.”
K.F • Mar 17, 2025 at 4:19 pm
She doesn’t even go here