Rutgers backs professor tied to Antifa, targets opposing students
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NEW BRUNSWICK, New Jersey – Turning point United States Rutgers University officials are speaking out as university officials push to remove them from their leadership roles and as the school’s Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of Antifa-aligned professor Mark Bray.
“The message we want to send to students across America is that this is the time where we need to speak our minds,” Ava Kwan, the chapter’s outreach coordinator, told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday.
The Rutgers University Senate voted 110-4 on Friday to pass the “Resolution in Support of Academic Freedom and Free Expression,” in support of Mark Bray, the author of “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,” who has faced opposition for his pro-Antifa rhetoric.
RUTGERS CHIEF DEMANDS TPUSA OFFICERS BE OUTSIDED AFTER THEY CALLED ANTIFA-LINKED TEACHER
Rutgers professor Mark Bray, nicknamed “Dr. Antifa,” and TPUSA students Megyn Doyle (left) and Ana Kwan (right). (Photo: AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, Rachel del Guidice) (Photo credit: AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, Rachel del Guidice)
“This is the time when we stand firm in our beliefs and speak the truth,” Kwan said. “So I think this is the time that conservative students across America need to start speaking their minds. It’s time for us to speak the truth, it’s time to be bold with our beliefs, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here at Rutgers.”
“The only way to make a difference is to speak out, to start with a petition, to start by addressing these concerns before a Rutgers administration like ours tries to take you down,” Megyn Doyle, a Rutgers student and Turning Point USA chapter treasurer, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
Kwan and Doyle now face removal from their TPUSA leadership roles, an issue that only came to light after the two men launched a petition calling for Bray’s removal.
In an email obtained by Fox News Digital, Karima Woodyard, director of student engagement and leadership at Rutgers, said Megyn Doyle, a Rutgers student and treasurer of the Turning Point USA chapter, and Ava Kwan, the chapter’s outreach coordinator, should be removed from their leadership positions and a new election should be held.
According to the email sent Monday, Woodyard argued that neither Doyle nor Kwan were eligible to serve as officers.
Earlier this month, Doyle started a petition to remove Mark Bray, citing concerns over his past statements in support of Antifa.
RUTGERS TURNING POINT USA CHAPTER LAUNCHES PETITION TO FIRE PROFESSOR THEY CALL “DR ANTIFA”
Mark Bray, assistant professor of history at Rutgers, waits in a hotel room in Newark, New Jersey, before a scheduled flight to Spain on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
Bray, an assistant professor at Rutgers, has written several books defending the anarchist and Antifa movements, including “The Anarchist Inquisition: Assassins, Activists and Martyrs in Spain and France” and “Translating Anarchy: The Anarchism of Occupy Wall Street.”
In previous online posts, Bray has expressed his strong support for “anti-facism”, stating in a Article from October 4 on Bluesky, a social media app popular with liberals, “It’s true that sometimes the law holds Trump back and gives us a semblance of security. But the more we rely on the law as our shield, the more powerful it will become like a sword when Trump turns it in his favor and uses it against us. Only mass anti-fascism, legal or not, can save us.”
In “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,” Bray writes: “Our goal should be that twenty years from now, those who voted for Trump will be too uncomfortable to share that fact publicly. We may not always be able to change someone’s beliefs, but we can certainly make their expression political, social, economic, and sometimes physically costly.
Bray recently announced he was moving his family to Europe “for safety reasons.”
Doyle told Fox News Digital that the opposition to them appears to be linked to their opposition to Bray.
“The student engagement officer wants us removed because of our student status,” Doyle said. “Ava Kwan is a graduate and I’m a student on a different campus, that’s why they want us expelled. We weren’t informed why we were investigated all of a sudden and it only happened because of the opposition to Mark Bray.”
“She claims that we are not eligible to fill our positions because of a technicality of our students’ status,” Kwan added. “It’s completely unfair. Before this whole situation, there had never been a problem with Megyn and I holding our positions on the board. So this clearly seems to be a very politically motivated decision and a clear application of procedure, a selective application of procedure. And it’s completely unfair and completely unjustified.”
Kwan, who has been doxxed on platforms like Reddit, said she was an advocate for free speech, but felt it was necessary to take action given Bray’s ties to Antifa.
“Of course we want different values, we want different beliefs, we want to have conversations with people,” Kwan said.
“That’s the purpose of the First Amendment. We want to have conversations with people. However, Mark Bray went further,” she added. “He approves of political violence, he approves of preemptive political violence against those he deems justified. We don’t feel safe on campus with him. We don’t feel safe having him appointed to Rutgers. And we also don’t think it’s right that his salary is funded by the taxpayers of New Jersey.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Rutgers said: “Turning Point USA is a recognized student organization on the Rutgers University New Brunswick campus. Like all student organizations, it is expected to operate in accordance with our stated policies and procedures.
The Rutgers spokesperson added that “the university has identified that two individuals identifying themselves publicly as leaders of the TPUSA chapter were not properly registered as leaders in accordance with university procedures. Additionally, these individuals do not meet the eligibility criteria for leadership positions in a New Brunswick undergraduate student organization. all student organizations.
Fox News Digital has contacted Bray for comment.
PROFESSOR ‘DR ANTIFA’ RUTGERS ANNOUNCES HIS MOVE TO EUROPE AFTER TPUSA PETITION CALLS FOR HIS TERMINATION
The pretty seaside town and natural bay of Calella de Palafrugell on the Catalan Costa Brava. (left) Mark Bray, assistant professor of history at Rutgers, waits in a hotel room in Newark, New Jersey, before a scheduled flight to Spain on Thursday, October 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey; iStock)
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