Thursday, Sept. 24, the College of William and Mary’s Turning Point USA chapter hosted right-wing social media personality Will Witt for a “Prove Me Wrong” debate on the Sunken Garden.
Witt regularly travels to college campuses to host these events. He records the debates and uploads clips of them onto his Instagram and the TPUSA YouTube page.
Right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk co-founded TPUSA in 2012 and helped popularize the interactive debate format on college campuses.
Witt invited attendees to pick up the microphone and debate him on a range of political issues.
William and Mary Police Department officers were also stationed at the event.
Members of the College’s TPUSA chapter held signs with prompts encouraging attendees to debate Witt. One of the signs appeared to express support for the great replacement theory, a far-right conspiracy theory that argues nonwhite immigration into the United States is a plot to diminish the influence of white people.
Other signs expressed support for colonialism and called diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives racist.
Leo Herman ’29, a government major, spectated the event.
“I love public discourse and just generally promoting an environment of public discourse and a more cordial [campus] environment,” he said. “I decided to come give it a listen, see what this guy’s about.”
Herman said he disagrees with some of TPUSA’s stances, but he appreciated the discussions.
“I think it’s important that we’re able to hear both sides and get viewpoints from everyone,” he said. “Freedom of speech is so important in our country, and they’re expressing that here, so I have no problem with them being here.”
Some students expressed discomfort with the event being recorded.
Silas Pritchard ’30 also attended the event. He said he was surprised TPUSA decided to come to the College.
“I was surprised that [TPUSA] would waste their time with this relatively small liberal arts university with a history of liberalism or leftism,” Pritchard said.
Pritchard said he questioned whether TPUSA hosted the event in good faith.
“This is not a debate,” he said. “This is a person who gets paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to learn the same talking points and to go to college campuses to create short-form content.”
Joshua Chin ’27, another spectator, said he thought the open debate on Sunken Garden reflected the College’s values of free expression.
“William and Mary, as an institution, does a pretty good job of encouraging more diverse viewpoints regardless of side on the political aisle,” he said.
The Flat Hat reached out to the College’s TPUSA chapter for comment but received no response. College Socialists, as well as the College’s Young Democrats and Independents organizations, also did not answer requests for comment.
