How many universities have faced lawsuits over free speech and Turning Point USA chapters?

1. University of New Mexico — a successful First Amendment challenge by a TPUSA chapter

The University of New Mexico was the defendant in a First Amendment suit brought by its campus Turning Point USA chapter and allied organizations over an on-campus security-fee policy; a judge barred UNM from enforcing that policy against on-campus speech events, finding the fee could operate as viewpoint-based restriction when applied to political speech ^[1]. The case demonstrates the common legal battleground: student conservative groups and national civil-liberties allies framing fees or administrative rules as unlawful burdens on political expression ^[1].

2. Grand Valley State University — students and ADF sue over speech-zone restrictions

Grand Valley State University was sued in a case brought by members of its Turning Point USA chapter and the Alliance Defending Freedom, who alleged the school’s tiny designated “free speech zones” and related practices unlawfully restricted student expression; the lawsuit explicitly challenged repeated First Amendment violations, including an incident where students were threatened with arrest for a public demonstration ^[2]. That 2016 challenge fits a broader pattern wherein conservative student groups use litigation to attack campus time-place-manner restrictions they argue are content- or viewpoint-discriminatory ^[2].

3. Santa Clara University — student suit prompted policy revision over recognition of TPUSA

Reporting indicates a student lawsuit led Santa Clara University to revise its student-organization policy after the student government initially voted to deny recognition to a Turning Point USA chapter; the university later reversed the denial and the administration clarified its rules for campus group recognition following litigation and administrative review ^[3]. This example highlights that litigation can be used not only to challenge fees or policing but also to contest denials of official club status ^[3].

4. Other campus disputes — fees, letters, and contested discipline but not clearly filed lawsuits in these sources

Beyond those three universities, the sources catalog many additional conflicts between campus administrations and TPUSA chapters — for example, a dispute at the University of Maryland over a small security fee drew an intervention letter from FIRE alleging First Amendment problems, but the reporting in these materials describes advocacy and legal threats rather than a filed lawsuit as of the cited coverage ^[4]. Similarly, organizations such as AAUP and FIRE document multiple incidents where TPUSA activity or university responses produced formal complaints, threatened litigation, or administrative sanctions, but the provided documents do not establish a comprehensive count of filed lawsuits nationwide ^{[6] [5]}.

5. What the count means — conservative litigation strategy, administrative pressures, and reporting limits

Taken strictly from the supplied reporting, three universities can be identified as defendants in actual, filed litigation tied to Turning Point USA chapter free-speech claims (University of New Mexico, Grand Valley State University, Santa Clara University) while numerous other campuses appear in conflict narratives or in letters from advocacy groups where litigation was threatened or pled but not uniformly documented as filed in these sources ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]}. The pattern in the sources shows an organized litigation and advocacy approach by conservative student groups and allied legal firms to challenge campus rules, and a countervailing set of university rationales focused on safety, nondiscrimination, or procedure; both sides bring predictable institutional agendas to bear ^{[1] [2] [5]}.

6. Caveats: incomplete surveillance and the likelihood of more cases

The sources assembled here do not claim to be an exhaustive national docket; they document prominent instances and broader trends but acknowledge many campus disputes take the form of administrative complaints, threatened suits, or advocacy letters that may not appear in press reports as formal litigation ^{[4] [5]}. Therefore, while at least three universities are shown in this packet as having faced lawsuits over free-speech disputes involving Turning Point USA chapters, the true total nationally is likely higher and would require a systematic legal-docket search beyond the provided reporting to enumerate with certainty ^{[1] [2] [3]}.