Sandburg students oppose Turning Point USA club in Orland Park

A Club America pilot program at Carl Sandburg High School, part of Turning Point USA, sparked an online outcry and brought a few students and a resident to the Orland High School District 230 board meeting Thursday.

But the school board said in a statement that it cannot deny students the right to organize on campus.

Club America is a national movement of more than 1,200 school chapters supported by Turning Point USA, a nonprofit organization founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk that aims to identify, educate, train and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets and limited government, according to its national website.

The Carl Sandburg High School program has faced criticism on social media since its inception, with now more than 1,200 petition signatures opposing the program’s existence. But students specifically said Thursday that they were concerned about the club’s third-party influence and the requirement that students remain in regular communication with a Turning Point official.

Several students argued that the program’s outside influence violated a section of the Equal Access Act prohibiting people outside the school from directing, controlling or regularly attending student group activities.

“Club America not only promotes a one-sided agenda, but actively speaks out against divergent beliefs, which eliminates any notion of free thought,” said Kate Kanagy, a student at Carl Sandburg.

“The students here today stand before you and tell you that without a place for every student to be welcomed, represented and safe within our schools, this group is not an opportunity for free speech but is a forced narrative,” she said.

Kanagy said she would prefer to have an independent political club, without outside influences, at her school. She said she was working with the school administration on forming a unity club, which she said would be an impartial club governed by an executive board with diverse political viewpoints, instead of the Turning Point program.

The board issued a statement Thursday and said current law, such as the Equal Access Act, states that schools cannot deny students access to on-campus meetings. The board also said a school cannot disband a club based on statements by its national affiliate that may create an “unsafe” environment, but only if the students themselves engage in targeted harassment or cause substantial disruption on campus.

“Our role is to support students’ constitutional rights while upholding the law and maintaining a respectful learning environment,” the board said.

The statement highlighted a point Kanagy mentioned, that while some national organizations provide “club kits” or speakers, the club should remain a student-led group rather than being run by an “outside agent.”

The board also said a pilot club does not mean the school subscribes to the organization’s views.

Board member Tim Danlow spoke in support of the club, praising the students who founded it.

“They have undertaken a tremendous project of civic discussion and respectful dialogue,” Danlow said. “I have 100% confidence in our student body that this club will be a positive opportunity for all who choose to participate and a constructive addition to our school community.”

Caesar Gaytan, a Sandburg senior, said the club made disruptive and hurtful comments toward students and alumni. He said that in one case, club members responded to a former student’s criticism of one of the club’s posts by threatening to report the commenter to federal immigration enforcement agents.

He said that as a Latino and president of the Latino Club, the program made him feel unsafe, especially in the current climate of immigration politics in the Chicago area. He said that although he would graduate this year, he feared the club would increase hatred and division.

“I don’t want future freshmen and future students coming to Sandburg to feel like they don’t belong and that they’re not welcome,” Gaytan said.

Gaytan said it took several years to found the Latino Club and he didn’t understand how Club America was started so quickly at his high school.

The board’s press release indicates that a club is designated as a pilot when it is subject to a probationary period in order to assess its interest and sustainability. To become a pilot club, the club must meet requirements set for all student organizations, the board said.

Jennifer Waterman, director of communications, said it is a multi-year process for a pilot program to become an official school-sponsored club, based on sustained student interest and resources.

Gaytan, Kanagy and another student who spoke Thursday, Noah Calhoun, said they met with school administrators about their questions and concerns.

But Gayton said students chose to speak to the school board because they were given forms to fill out so they could speak individually with guidance counselors after first raising concerns.

Gayton said Club America is scheduled to meet in January and he has already heard from many students planning to attend that meeting in opposition, even showing up in their culture’s traditional clothing to represent diversity.

awright@chicagotribune.com