University of Mississippi Students Plan Progressive Town Hall to Counter Vance’s Visit With TPUSA
As Vice President J.D. Vance arrives on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford for an event with Turning Point U.S.A. this evening, a coalition of progressive student groups is set to counter-program his appearance with a competing town hall.
“We do not believe (Vance’s) intentions are to inform students about current events, but rather to alienate and intimidate any students who do not agree with the agenda of his closest allies,” the coalition said in a statement released on Thursday.
The coalition organizing the Mississippi Rise Up Town Hall includes UMiss College Democrats, the UM Environmental Coalition, UM Forward, Southern Progressives Alliance, Community Alliance Network, United Campus Workers and the Lafayette County Democratic Party.
The coalition’s town hall comes in the wake of pressure for certain universities to adopt the Trump administration’s new Compact for Academic Excellence. It promises that schools that sign the compact will get priority in things like federal funding and student visa approval in exchange for implementing Trump priorities, including imposing restrictions on speech from left-wing community members. UM was not on the list of universities asked to sign the compact, and has not released a public comment on this issue.
Organizers are holding the event from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Gertrude C. Ford Student Union Ballroom—the same time as the TPUSA event. The progressive town hall will feature speakers like Tennessee House Rep. Gloria Johnson (one of the “Tennessee Three”) and sociology Professor James Thomas. Democratic U.S. House Rep. Ro Khanna of California, former Democratic U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and University of North George professor Matthew Boedy will also speak. Boedy’s work focuses on the rhetoric of religion and the rise of Christian nationalism.
Democratic Tennessee House Rep. Gloria Johnson (center) is set to speak at a progressive University of Mississippi town hall event designed to counter Vice President JD Vance’s visit to the campus with Turning Point U.S.A. on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025. Johnson is seen here holding hands with Democratic Tennessee House Rep. Justin Jones and Democratic Rep. Justin Pearson after Republicans expelled Jones and Pearson from the Legislature Thursday, April 6, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. AP Photo/George Walker IV
TPUSA is the organization that was founded by Charlie Kirk, the controversial pro-Trump conservative activist who was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley State University in September. After Kirk’s shooting, the University of Mississippi fired employee Lauren Stokes for resharing a social media post that criticized Kirk’s views; she has since sued the university, alleging that her firing violated her First Amendment rights.
While some progressive Mississippians plan on attending the Mississippi Rise Up Town Hall, others look forward to attending and participating in the TPUSA event itself.
“I want to learn about what they’re saying on the other side, so I can learn their perspectives so I’m not just seeing them through a media bubble,” said 19-year-old University of Mississippi student Loki Swain. “I want to learn exactly what they’re saying—I want to learn the rhetoric they’re spreading.”
Richard Kilgore, a 22-year-old factory worker, plans to attend the TPUSA event as well. Both he and Swain hope to participate in one of the public question-and-answer segments that TPUSA events are known for.
“If this is just a commemorative thing for Charlie (Kirk’s death), I probably won’t go up (to speak at the event) because I don’t want to be disrespectful, … but if they do allow for questions or pushback, like Charlie Kirk used to, I will absolutely be going up,” Kilgore said.
Students walk around the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford, Miss., Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. AP Photo/Karen Pulfer Focht
The TPUSA event will include the question-and-answer session that is typical of TPUSA events, University of Mississippi TPUSA chapter President Lesley Lachman said in a call on Tuesday.
Lachman, Vance and Erica Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk and the current TPUSA CEO, are scheduled to speak before the question-and-answer portion of the event.
“It’s America, and you have the freedom to do what you want to do,” Lachman said when asked about the town hall opposing her event. “This event is the biggest event of the entire year, so if you want to miss that event, that is a personal decision, but the vice president coming to your school only happens once every so often.”
Thomas, one of the town hall speakers, is the only University of Mississippi professor on TPUSA’s Professor Watchlist—a list of academics that the organization accuses of pushing leftist propaganda in classrooms or discriminating against conservative students. In 2020, Mississippi’s Republican state auditor, Shad White, investigated Thomas for participating in the anti-racism Scholar Strike.
University of Mississippi Sociology Professor James Thomas will be one of the speakers at the progressive town hall countering Vice President JD Vance’s appearance at a Turning Point U.S.A. event in Oxford, Miss., on Oct. 29, 2025. Photo courtesy James Thomas Credit: James M. Thomas
Thomas said he thinks students shouldn’t expect a fair debate at the TPUSA event in a call on Tuesday.
“Historically speaking, the Q and A has either been especially tightly managed at these (TPUSA) events—particularly when it involves federally elected officials like the vice president or federally appointed officials—because they don’t want to have a gotcha moment with those individuals,” Thomas said. “When it used to be Charlie Kirk showing up at these things, the aim was to solicit questions and capture a gotcha moment and really do it in a very edited way.”
The TPUSA event is scheduled to be held at 5 p.m. in the Sandy and John Black Pavilion.
Student tickets are still available, but general admission tickets for the public are sold out. Tickets are not needed for the Mississippi Rise Up Town Hall occurring at the same time.
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