Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Post 8 - Final Project

Introduction

As all NJCU students are aware, New Jersey City University is merging with Kean University this summer due to the school no longer being able to fund itself as an independent institution. Several worries among the student and staff bodies have already arisen as the day of the merger draws near, including the possibility of layoffs due to several courses at NJCU not being provided by Kean, increased tuition and the loss of NJCU’s individuality. However, there is one glaring threat to the students of NJCU that hasn’t been addressed by either Kean or NJCU, and that is Turning Point USA. Turning Point USA is a political nonprofit organization whose main mission is to advocate for conservative politics to the American youth. They accomplish this by partnering with large universities and becoming involved with the student activities of said universities. Some of TPUSA’s tactics include influencing student government elections and the Professor Watchlist, a website used to “warn” people of college professors whose beliefs and teaching methods contradict those of TPUSA.

It goes without saying that this website’s true function is to publicly shame those who are critical of conservative values, Donald Trump or TPUSA itself. The most infamous of these tactics is the “Prove Me Wrong” table, at which the late organization founder Charlie Kirk would sit and allow students to debate with him on various political topics until his assassination in September of 2025.

And as of January 2026, TPUSA has officially been allowed to establish a chapter on Kean University’s campus in Union County. It’s not known whether TPUSA plans to extend their reach into Jersey City through NJCU’s campus. However, as the organization’s growth and endeavors have only grown bolder following Kirk’s death, the possibility that TPUSA may find its way into NJCU is not zero.


Intervention: Don’t Prove Me Right

The purpose of the Prove Me Wrong table was never to encourage friendly debate between peers. It was to provoke outrage from students reacting to Kirk’s charged claims, and when the students inevitably lost to Kirk, the more experienced debater, all the best moments caught on video would inevitably be used to further his anti-leftist propaganda. Therefore, in preparation for the occasion that TPUSA does manage to breach NJCU’s walls, I’ve come up with an intervention I call the “Don’t Prove Me Right” table. I will set up a table in the middle of NJCU’s campus with a sign that says “Don’t Prove Me Right”. I will leave brochures or pamphlets on the table explaining what TPUSA is and the intervention’s purpose, which is teaching students the proper course of action regarding these debate tables: ignoring them. As for my portfolio and professional aspirations, this intervention has nothing to do with them beyond my belief that TPUSA is a dangerous organization that uses its power in such a reckless way that needlessly divides and even endangers our neighbors.


Artists That Inspired This Intervention

  • Yoko Ono - Yoko Ono’s “Cut Piece” performance was the main inspiration for this intervention. While Ono encouraged participation in order to reveal the darker parts of patriarchy in society, my intervention seeks to discourage participation in order to teach restraint. 

  • Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army - The Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (CIRCA) was an activist group in the UK that dressed as clowns to protests in order to appear nonthreatening, and by proxy, make the authorities look like fools for trying to suppress a clearly harmless group. Clowns have a history of being used as a tool to criticize those in power since their origins as jesters in royal courts. I hope to put into perspective how the “Prove Me Wrong” tables ultimately do more harm to those participating by playing the part of the debater, whose odds are rigged in their favor to begin with.

  • Traffic Mimes - In 1995, the mayor of BogotΓ‘, Colombia, Antanas Mockus, hired over 400 mimes to direct traffic flow in the city and ridicule those not following the law. He chose this course of action due to the people’s blatant disregard for traffic laws and signage. It was so effective that cities in other countries chose to imitate them.

  • A Dallas Drinking Fountain - The drinking fountain in Dallas which makes those who want to use it finish a 45-second video on black civil rights protests before drinking heavily relies on informing the audience. I am planning to make pamphlets explaining why TPUSA is so dangerous and why tables like mine need to be ignored.


Quotes From Readings

  • Performance art, an introduction by The Art Assignment and Dr. Virginia B. Spivey: "Whereas painting and sculpture relied on expressive form and content to convey meaning, performance art forced viewers to engage with a real person who could feel cold and hunger, fear and pain, excitement and embarrassment—just like them."

    • When watching the videos of Charlie Kirk “owning” the students he debates, it’s like watching a ball game. We say things like “Why did they say that instead of that?” or “Why didn’t they bring that up?” I believe it will take a performance of the real thing for people to understand that the game was rigged from the start.

  • The Art of Activism, Chapter 2: “In order for our creativity to progress, we need to allow ourselves the freedom to make fools of ourselves.”

    • I’m inevitably going to embarrass myself when I pull this off. I only hope that my performance will provide something useful to my classmates.

  • The Art of Activism, Chapter 1: “Politics is about people's perceptions of the truth, their feelings about facts, and their visceral experiences of the world.”

    • The thing that frustrated me the most about TPUSA is how often Charlie Kirk just makes up his debate points. He made up statistics that can’t be verified. An entire subsection of his Wikipedia page is dedicated to his misinformation. And yet that was his “truth” of the world. 

  • The Art of Activism, Chapter 1: "Making rational decisions based upon informed and reasoned discussions is a worthy ideal."

    • My political opinions are charged with as much emotion as those I disagree with. However, I try not to speak on things I don’t have a basic understanding of. The “debates” conducted by TPUSA are nothing but verbal executions aimed towards unprepared college students to be recorded and used as propaganda for the organization’s benefit.

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