The University of Maryland’s Turning Point USA chapter is challenging a security fee the university imposed for its speaker event this Wednesday.
The chapter demanded the university rescind its requirement for the organization to pay for additional security for an on-campus event featuring The Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips, according to a statement posted on social media Sunday.
The event, titled “Fighting Like Charlie,” will take place weeks after the assassination of Turning Point USA co-founder and conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The statement said the fee is unconstitutional and “view-point discriminatory,” accusing the university of assuming any events connected with Turning Point USA require extra security.
The chapter also posted a letter addressed to university president Darryll Pines from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression — an organization that aims to protect free speech on college campuses — that calls for the university to rescind the fee requirement “forcing” the Turning Point USA chapter to pay for private security. The letter requested a university response by Monday.
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This university responded to the letter, stating that Turning Point USA’s university chapter will still have to pay the “relatively nominal, reasonable and standard security cost to proceed with its event,” according to an email sent to The Diamondback Monday.
The university emphasized that its security requirements are the same for all similar on-campus events, regardless of the chapter’s viewpoints.
The chapter posted on social media Tuesday evening that it still views the fee as discriminatory, and refuses to pay. The Leadership Institute — an organization that trains conservative activists — agreed to cover the costs so Wednesday’s event can go as planned.
The chapter was informed on Oct. 2 that University of Maryland Police would provide security free of charge, campus rights advocate Charlotte Arneson wrote in the letter. But the next day, UMPD sent a follow-up email that said the event organizers were required to hire extra security for bag checks and metal detectors, Arneson continued.
Last week, Contemporary Services Corporation, a crowd management and event security company often used by this university for campus events, provided the chapter with an estimated cost of $148.52 for a minimum of four hours of security coverage, according to the letter. This was despite the event only being scheduled to last an hour, the letter read.
Arneson and this university’s Turning Point USA chapter argued the implementation of an extra fee infringes on their First Amendment right to free speech, citing the university’s security policy about political discrimination.
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“In determining whether security costs shall be imposed, and the amount of any such costs, the University may not consider the content or viewpoints of the speech expressed or intended to be expressed by the event sponsors, speakers, guests, or attendees,” the policy states.
UMPD told the chapter in an email that requesting external security services is not exclusive to Turning Point USA and has become “a common security practice” due to “a recent increase in threats,” according to the letter.
The letter cited examples of past Turning Point USA events on campus where UMPD did not charge additional security fees. It also noted the university’s chapter of Students Supporting Israel held a vigil on Oct. 7, 2025 on McKeldin Mall using CSC staff free of charge.
Arneson wrote that this university’s security fees infringe on the preservation of “viewpoint and content neutrality” on campus.
“UMD cannot and must not force student groups to pay more money for security protection because others in the community might feel offended by an event and subsequently become violent or disruptive,” Arneson wrote.
