Carlos Perez ‘29 and Diego Victoria ‘27, two of Yale’s most outspoken conservative students and the founders of Turning Point USA at Yale, say that this is the best time to be a conservative on college campuses.
Carlos Perez (left) and Diego Victoria (right) introducing a speaker during a TPUSA event. (Credit: TPUSA at Yale)
Milad Davaran
Staff Writer, The Buckley Beacon
As universities across the United States come under federal scrutiny for a lack of diverse opinions, conservative activism has grown stronger on campuses nationwide. One example is here at Yale University.
Turning Point USA’s Yale chapter is in its first year as a club. Its two founders, President Carlos Perez ‘29 and Vice President Diego Victoria ‘27, sat down with the Beacon to discuss their views on campus politics and how the political climate at Yale has changed since the arrival of Yale’s Turning Point USA chapter.
Victoria, who hails from Orange County, California, explained why he believed Yale had gotten “better” since he arrived, pointing to shifts in the University’s “programming and offerings,” despite continuing to describe Yale as a “liberal and Democratic stronghold.” However, he mentioned that the biggest changes have come from students through organizations such as Turning Point USA which seek to bring “high-quality conservative speakers on campus.”
When asked about remarks in a recent Yale Daily News piece titled “Yale Conservatives of Color Say Race Has Not Affected Their Politics,” Victoria said, “It’s kind of funny seeing all the backlash— I really don’t care.” He added that he thinks “anyone can be a conservative regardless of their race.” The article received considerable backlash online, raising questions about the relationship between political affiliation and race.
Perez, who is from South Florida, was recently interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, where he mentioned that he believes this is the best time to be a conservative on college campuses. Expanding on that view, Perez explained that “conservative students are much more willing and able, it’s more socially acceptable, I guess you could say, to speak their minds freely and allow their voices to be heard on campus.” He also pointed to stronger career opportunities under the current administration and credited organizations such as Turning Point USA, along with outside conservative groups with national reach and the right-wing parties of the Yale Political Union for supporting conservative students. The Yale Political Union has four right-wing parties: the Tory Party, the Federalist Party, the Conservative Party, and the Party of the Right.
TPUSA at Yale has sponsored a couple high-profile speakers in recent months, including independent journalist Nick Shirley in September on the anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, and former CEA Chairman Stephen Miran in October. The notoriety their activities on campus have brought plenty of criticism from left-wing students, though Victoria and Perez have made a point of brushing it off. “A lot of it comes from people who don’t even go to Yale,” Victoria said. “So I don’t even really care.”
Perez indicated that criticism isn’t the only feedback he’s received. “It’s led to a lot of people that aren’t really conservative, as I said earlier, going up to me and actually applauding my decision,” he said. Perez did recount an instance from a few weeks earlier,when someone had approached one of their tables, flipped it, and started screaming at them.
On the subject of Yale’s potential settlement with the Trump administration, Victoria stated that “I 100% do think that they should settle,” adding that he trusts “our federal government to do the right thing.”
Yale University is currently considering a settlement with the Trump administration following allegations made by the Department of Justice in May 2026 that Yale School of Medicine discriminated against White and Asian applicants during the admissions process, with the investigation also extending to Yale Law School and Yale College. With negotiations still pending, many at Yale have voiced their opposition to a potential settlement, including left-wing groups who protested in Beinecke Plaza in early October.
In response to these protests, Victoria stated that protesters “probably wouldn’t be able to tell you” what they were protesting about. He also remarked that “you notice at these protests, it’ll be about Yale settling with DOJ, but then you’ll see a Gaza flag and people wearing the Gaza scarves and all this, and they’ll bring up some other kind of issue.”
The settlement remains under negotiation, while other Ivy League universities, including Columbia, Penn, Brown, and Cornell, have reached agreements with the Trump administration. Harvard, by contrast, has challenged the administration in court rather than reaching a settlement. That case was recently thrown out by a federal judge.
“Admissions discrimination according to race is illegal,” Perez said. “If Yale has committed that, then yeah, they should absolutely comply with the federal investigation.”