Photo: Getty Images North America
A group wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and carrying anti-DEI signs was removed from the Tennessee State University (TSU) campus.
According to the NAACP Nashville Chapter, the MAGA group Fearless Debates crashed the HBCU on Tuesday (September 23) around 3 p.m., carrying signs that read “DEI should be illegal” and “Deport all illegals now.” The group attempted to engage students in debates around these topics, which the NAACP said were “framed as debate but functioned as provocation.”
TSU said the group wasn't affiliated with the university and wasn't authorized to be on campus. University staff and campus police responded to the scene and escorted the group off university grounds without incident.
“At all times, TSU students conducted themselves in a professional and respectful manner,” the school said. “The safety and well-being of our students, faculty, and staff remain our highest priority.”
The group’s social media suggests that the TSU invasion was inspired by conservative figure Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot during a speaking event at Utah Valley University earlier this month. Videos posted by the group show students confronting its members and recording their removal by campus police.
The NAACP Nashville Chapter called the incident an “intentional effort to antagonize, disrupt, and instill fear."
“This incident was not an isolated act of political expression — it was an intentional effort to provoke,” the NAACP said in its statement. “There is a clear and urgent distinction between constructive dialogue and rhetoric deliberately designed to demean and endanger the psychological safety of students at HBCUs.”
See footage of the incident below.
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