Rutgers conservatives who challenged ‘Dr. Antifa’ say they’re being punished as university backs professor

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Turning Point USA officers at Rutgers University are speaking out as university officials push to remove them from leadership roles and as the school’s senate overwhelmingly voted to support Antifa-aligned professor Mark Bray.

"The message that we want to give out to students all across America is that this is the time that we need to speak our minds," Ava Kwan, the chapter’s outreach coordinator, told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday. 

On Friday, the Rutgers University Senate voted 110-4 in favor of passing the "Resolution in Support of Academic Freedom and Free Expression" to support Mark Bray, the author of "Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook," who has faced opposition for his pro-Antifa rhetoric. 

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"This is the time that we stand firm in our beliefs and speak truth," Kwan said. "So, I think this is a time where conservative students all over America need to start speaking their minds. It's time for us to speak the truth. It's time to be bold with our convictions, and that's exactly what we're doing here at Rutgers." 

"The only way that you can make a difference is by speaking out, start with a petition, start by addressing these concerns before you have a Rutgers administration like ours trying to take you down,"  Megyn Doyle, a student at Rutgers and the treasurer for the Turning Point USA chapter, told Fox News Digital in an interview. 

Kwan and Doyle are now facing possible removal from their TPUSA leadership roles, an issue raised only after the pair launched a petition calling for Bray’s removal.

In an email obtained by Fox News Digital, Karima Woodyard, director for student involvement and leadership at Rutgers, said that Doyle and Kwan should be removed from their officer positions and that 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 launched a petition to remove Mark Bray, citing concerns over his past statements supporting Antifa. 

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Bray, a Rutgers assistant professor, has written multiple books defending 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 strong support for "antifacism," saying in an Oct. 4 post on Bluesky, a social media app popular with liberals, "It’s true that sometimes the law holds back Trump and affords us some semblance of safety. But the more we lean into the law as our shield, the more powerful it will become as a sword when Trump changes it in his favor and wields it against us. Only mass antifascism, legal or not, can save us." 

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In "Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook," Bray wrote, "Our goal should be that in twenty years those who voted for Trump are too uncomfortable to share that fact in public. We may not always be able to change someone’s beliefs, but we sure as hell can make it politically, socially, economically, and sometimes physically costly to articulate them." 

Bray recently announced he was moving his family to Europe "for safety reasons."

Doyle told Fox News Digital that the opposition against them seems connected to their opposition of Bray. 

"The head of student involvement wants us removed from our positions because of our student status," Doyle said. "Ava Kwan is a graduate, and I am a student from a different campus, so that is why they want us removed. We have not been notified why we have been investigated all of a sudden, and this has only been happening because of opposition towards Mark Bray." 

"She is claiming that we are ineligible to hold our positions due to a technicality of our students statuses," Kwan added. "It's completely unfair. Prior to this whole situation, there was never an issue with Megyn and I's holding of our positions on the executive board. So, this clearly seems like a very politically motivated move and a clear enforcement of procedure, a selective enforcement of procedure. And it's completely unfair and completely unjustified." 

Kwan, who has been doxxed on platforms like Reddit, said she is an advocate for free speech, but she felt it was necessary to act given Bray’s ties to Antifa. 

"Of course, we want differing values, we want different beliefs, we want to have conversations with people," Kwan said. 

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"That is what the First Amendment is all about. We want to have conversations, with people. However, Mark Bray has taken it a step further," she added. "He endorses political violence. He endorses preemptive political violence against who he deems and believes it's justified. We don't feel safe on campus with him around. We don't feel safe having him appointed at Rutgers. And we also don't think it's fair that his salary is being funded by New Jersey taxpayers." 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Rutgers said, "Turning Point USA is a recognized student organization on the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers University. Like all student organizations, it is expected to operate in compliance with our stated policies and procedures.

"The university identified that two individuals presenting themselves publicly as officers of the TPUSA chapter were not properly registered as officers in accordance with university procedures. Additionally, these individuals do not meet the eligibility requirements for officer positions in a New Brunswick undergraduate student organization. 

"The university is reviewing this internally and working with the chapter to address the compliance matter and ensure the organization's continued operations on campus, consistent with our approach to all student organizations." 

Fox News Digital reached out to Bray for comment.