Days after conservative commentator Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University, a Turning Point USA group at Fremont High School asked to become an official “curricular club” — a designation that allows school sponsorship, yearbook space and participation in school activities.
The students had already been recognized as a “noncurricular club,” or what the Weber School District, which Fremont is part of, simply refers to as a “group.”
But unlike “clubs,” groups under Utah law cannot receive school sponsorship, because their purposes don’t relate to school curriculum. It also means they can’t participate in school-sponsored activities.
Despite that legal distinction, Fremont parent Braeden Stander and his 17-year-old son, Brigham Stander — president of the school’s Turning Point group — feel that some groups at Fremont still saw club-level privileges, like features in the yearbook and a booth during Back-to-School Night.
In their view, the school rejecting on Sept. 24 the Turning Point group’s request to become a “curricular” club felt like selective enforcement of a law and Fremont policy that otherwise seemed largely ignored.
The father and son made their case before the Utah State Board of Education on Thursday during a public comment period.
“It was specific to Turning Points,” the father said of the alleged mistreatment. “And the real question is: Why now? Why all of a sudden? We feel like they’re being targeted.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Braeden Stander holds Weber School District's definitions of clubs and groups while speaking to the Utah State Board of Education regarding the Turning Point USA chapter at Fremont High School in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025.
The school’s rejection came in the form of a denial notice that stated Turning Point’s mission did not directly relate to school curriculum.
“Curricular clubs are school-sponsored clubs whose subject matter is taught in a regular course,” the denial said. “While Fremont does have government and economics classes, Fremont does not have a course for the purpose of identifying, educating, training, and organizing students to promote principles of either conservative or liberal government and/or economics.”
Weber School District officials also said there is a “political element” to Turning Point USA and, by law, Utah public schools cannot sponsor any politically oriented groups.
“We’d be in violation of law,” said Lane Findlay, spokesperson for the district. “We’d be promoting one cause over another, and we just can’t do that.”
The father and Brigham told The Tribune they’ve since appealed the denial, arguing that Turning Point USA is not a political organization.
“We were disheartened to learn that the primary reason for this decision was the perception that our club is ‘political,’” their appeal states. “This characterization is inaccurate and inconsistent with Weber School District’s policies, which encourage student-led extracurricular activities that foster leadership, civic engagement, and community involvement.”
Turning Point USA describes itself on its website as a nonprofit founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk that works to “identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government.”
The site goes on to say that it’s working to “build the most organized, active, and powerful conservative grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses across the country.“
In a blurb about its “innovative grassroots messaging,” the website also states, “We combine culture and politics to engage young people in meaningful, effective ways.”
Whether or not Turning Point USA is considered political, the father and son said the core problem, as they see it, isn’t that Utah schools are barred from sponsoring political groups — but that the school appears to have applied policy inconsistently.
“The issue at hand is the unfair treatment,” Stander said. “If you’re going to do it for one group, you have to allow the same things for all.”
‘Contradicts what our group was told’
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Brigham Stander speaks to the Utah State Board of Education regarding the Turning Point USA chapter at Fremont High School in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025.
Brigham said the backlash started as soon as the chapter formed in April, including a petition another student launched in July calling for it to be disbanded.
He described his experience as a “fight” ever since.
At the start of the 2025-26 school year, after being told that groups are not allowed to participate in school activities, Brigham said he noticed that some groups had been allowed in the homecoming parade.
He emailed Fremont Principal Quinn Talbot, asking that Turning Point be included in the school’s next assembly, but Talbot replied that they couldn’t.
“While we did allow groups and clubs to participate in the Homecoming parade and assembly if they asked, Homecoming is a unique event that celebrates the school as a whole and all its organizations,” Talbot wrote Sept. 26. “Most of our assemblies are not like this and we have not historically allowed groups to participate in assemblies.”
In an emailed response, Brigham pushed back, saying that it “contradicts what our group was told when we asked to be in Back-to-School night and other events.” At that time, the group was told it was “not able to be in any school events or represent Fremont in any way.”
Talbot replied, explaining that group participation in school activities is up to individual schools.
“For Fremont, historically as I understand it, we have allowed groups to participate in bulletin board announcements, homecoming parades and an all-groups picture collage page in the yearbook,” the principal wrote.
Brigham said he believes the confusing messaging from administrators, and what he sees as rules being strictly enforced only against his Turning Point group, stems from the perception that they are “political and conservative.”
“Really, we’re not,” Brigham said. “We are just on the basis of the Constitution. We’re just trying to talk about free speech, limited government, that kind of stuff. It’s not political.”
Weber district says it’s following the law
Weber School District officials say they are following the law and have done so consistently.
“We’re very comfortable in how we’ve handled the situation and will continue to be consistent in how that’s applied,” Findlay said.
After Brigham and his father spoke Thursday, the school district’s attorney, Heidi Alder, also chimed in during public comment, telling USBE leaders that the district had not engaged in any “favoritism.”
“The district has made a concerted effort over the years to provide equal access to all noncurricular clubs,” Alder said, adding that its practices have adhered to the Equal Access Act and the 1990 Supreme Court ruling in Board of Education. v. Mergens.
Under the Equal Access Act, schools must provide equal access to all student clubs regardless of religious content, so long as the meetings are student-initiated and free of school sponsorship. The Mergens’ ruling established that restricting a religious club solely because of its religious nature violates federal law.
State Board Member Joe Kerry told The Tribune he was “troubled” by Brigham’s account of events.
“Look, if you’re applying state law or State Board of Education rules uniformly, I have no grievance,” Kerry said. “But I do get troubled when there is a difference of application.”
Brigham’s father said all he wants is equal treatment.
“We really need to start opening the dialogue and digging into the rules ... to ensure that fair access is granted to all groups, all clubs, equally across the board,” he told board members Thursday. “And that’s what we’re looking for.”
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