Since the assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025 there has been a spark across many college campus’ around the country. There were 54,000 inquiries across the country with in days of his assassination. At Quincy University there were two students that were so moved by Kirk’s death and his message that they decided to try and start a Turning Point USA chapter.

Rylee Mellon will be the president of the TPUSA chapter at QU, and the person who initially wanted to start a chapter at QU. Mellon was already planning on starting a chapter at QU for this year; after Kirk’s assassination she was certain that QU needed a TPUSA chapter. Mellon wants the main focus of this chapter on campus to be on what Kirk stood for; which she believes is to give everyone a voice and encourage civil debate amongst peers. The plan for this chapter is to give students a voice and a place to share their opinions and beliefs openly.

“I felt that more people needed to be more vocal about what they believe, and speak up. It’s not even about difference of belief. I feel like there is a stigma around talking about your beliefs on campus. This pushed me to let myself know I need to be the one to start this and give these people a voice,” Rylee Mellon said.

Josie Hocking will be the vice president of the new TPUSA chapter at QU. Hocking grew up in a Catholic household her whole life and attends a Catholic university at QU. Hocking believes that this new chapter will be a perfect fit for this Catholic university and that she is excited to get things on the ground running. Hocking was also extremely inspired personally by Kirk and his message. She believes that his message was all around positive and should be passed on.

“Coming to college you see all types of different opinions and some aren’t the same as yours. I felt like I would hear a lot of one side and the other just seemed like they were always walking on egg shells. They didn’t stand up for what they believed. I want to be able to help give those people a voice and a platform to openly share their thoughts and ideas,” Hocking said.

Justin Coffey, Ph.D., and Aaron Pempleton chair in history at QU, will be the academic advisor for the TPUSA chapter at QU. Coffey was invited to be the academic advisor in late 2025 when the chapter was trying to get started. He immediately accepted because he believes in the academic freedom of students, and open debate. Coffey believes that this will bring a big impact to QU in a very positive way, and brings many opportunities.

“I thought that it would be important for TPUSA to be on campus to show that QU believes in freedom of speech, academic freedom, and honest debate,” Coffey said.