{"id":90958,"date":"2025-10-16T15:31:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T20:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=90958"},"modified":"2025-10-16T15:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T20:31:11","slug":"turning-point-usa-hosts-hot-takes-open-discussion-at-fhsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/?p=90958","title":{"rendered":"Turning Point USA hosts \u201cHot Takes\u201d open discussion at FHSU"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By LINCOLN MYERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tiger Media Network<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fort Hays State University\u2019s chapter of Turning Point USA hosted \u201cHot Takes: A Night of Open Dialogue and Productive Discussion\u201d on Tuesday night in FHSU\u2019s Cody Commons. The event featured free pizza, open mic discussions, and a focus on respectful political dialogue among students and community members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event also commemorated the birthday of Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tyler Preisser, president of the organization, said the goal was to give students a space to speak freely about national and cultural topics in a respectful environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe main inspiration for a Hot Takes night was just to provide an open environment and platform for people to share their ideas or concerns on the current state of our country,\u201d Preisser said. \u201cWith a side benefit being humanizing each other and seeing each other as fellow neighbors with a difference of opinion rather than hating one another.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preisser said the event reflected the group\u2019s goal of helping students think critically and approach issues from multiple perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis event is a pure reflection of our goal here at Fort Hays, which is to encourage students to build discernment and think for themselves,\u201d Preisser said. \u201cEvents like this encourage us to see life from other people\u2019s perspectives and to do research out of curiosity rather than to validate our own pre-existing opinions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group chose Cody Commons for the event because it offered an open atmosphere and accessibility for students passing through the Memorial Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt gives us the opportunity to rub off a little bit on students that are walking by and maybe gain some interest in that way,\u201d Preisser said. \u201cThe equipment and facility with microphones also make it a good fit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preisser said the discussion was well attended and included students from across the political spectrum as well as several community members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were very grateful to have knowledgeable members in the audience from the Hays community who were able to offer valuable perspective and insight,\u201d Preisser said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said creating an environment where people felt comfortable sharing their opinions was key to keeping discussions respectful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you create an environment where people feel open to share what they believe and they don\u2019t feel like they\u2019re going to be attacked for it, they also don\u2019t feel like they have to be defensive,\u201d Preisser said. \u201cIf disagreements happen, our leadership steps in to remind everyone that we don\u2019t condone emotional immaturity, hatred, or violence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many students, the event offered an opportunity to listen, learn, and engage in meaningful conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FHSU student Aiden Wertz said he attended because he supports the organization\u2019s values but also wanted to better understand opposing viewpoints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of the reasons I was interested in going is because I support the ideology that TPUSA stands for, particularly its emphasis on traditional family values and Christian faith,\u201d Wertz said. \u201cI also wanted to hear and understand different ideologies and use that as an opportunity to reflect on why I believe what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wertz said that reflecting on one\u2019s beliefs is important for everyone, regardless of their faith or background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe that whatever faith you follow, it\u2019s important to reflect on the lens through which you see the world,\u201d he said. \u201cYou should ask yourself, \u2018Why do I believe this way?\u2019 and be confident and strong in standing up for your faith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another student, Andrew Waller, said the debate-style format encouraged healthy discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI heard about how they wanted to make it a debate and conversation-style event, and that sounded interesting to me,\u201d Waller said. \u201cStudents need to be engaged in conversations like these so that they can learn how to have good, respectful arguments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waller said the event showed that disagreement can lead to understanding instead of division.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe more respectful our conversations are, the less of a divide we will have,\u201d Waller said. \u201cOne member of the left posed a good question to a mainly right crowd, and I\u2019m sure it sparked lots of good conversations even after the event was over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preisser said the event was also meant to show that FHSU students can model positive dialogue even on controversial issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur hope as a takeaway from this event was first to show the community that there are good students who stand up for what is right at Fort Hays,\u201d Preisser said. \u201cWe also wanted to give students a chance to see what respectful disagreement can look like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Turning Point USA plans to continue hosting events that bring students together for open discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThrough events like this, we hope to get people excited and show that Fort Hays is a place for all students,\u201d Preisser said. \u201cOften, colleges are associated with one political side, but showing that we have a strong presence here demonstrates that FHSU is a place for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By LINCOLN MYERS Tiger Media Network Fort Hays State University\u2019s chapter of Turning Point USA hosted \u201cHot Takes: A Night of Open Dialogue and Productive… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":90959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":false,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3397,3398,11,3570],"tags":[16174,16443,16444],"class_list":["post-90958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-area-news","category-campus-news","category-news","category-politics-news","tag-lincoln-myers","tag-tpusa","tag-turning-point-usa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/mic-3989879_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C719&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=90958"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90961,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90958\/revisions\/90961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/90959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=90958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=90958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=90958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}