Chairman of the Tennessee Young Republicans and former Belmont University study body President Stevie Giorno recently joined The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss his experience at Belmont University during and after the time he served as the school’s student body president.
Giorno, who was bullied and called a “racist” for posting a pro-American social media message on Instagram on July 4, 2020, said the university used the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to bar him, the student body president at the time, from holding regular meetings.
“You know, they tried to silence us,” Giorno said. “But fortunately, everyone in student government was not one of those crazy leftists. They were very conservative people that I had helped find and our team identified.”
Giorno, who served the rest of his term as the student body president despite being bullied by Belmont students and fraternity members, said he surprisingly was not booed during graduation.
“I really thought I was gonna get booed and I was looking forward to it. But one of the things that when I look back that surprises me, that makes me really know that I did the right thing, was that when they announced my name instead of hearing boos, I heard a lot of cheers and people stood up for me. The silent majority definitely was not silent that day,” Giorno said.
Pivoting to the overall values of Belmont University, Leahy asked Giorno if he believes the institution is “salvageable,” to which the former student said, “I don’t think so,” citing a recent report detailing how the university rejected a student’s efforts to form a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) student chapter on campus.
“You know, I don’t think so. Just a few days ago they denied an application for Turning Point USA to start a chapter because they said that Turning Point did not align with the school’s values, mission, or goals. So I don’t think at the moment that it’s salvageable,” Giorno said. “What’s crazy to me is you’re allowed to have a pro-Palestine group, a pro-Hamas group on campus, but you’re not allowed to have a pro-America group on campus.”
Giorno told Leahy he is currently running for a delegate for former President Donald Trump, saying, “I’m running on the March 5th primary for Delegate for President Trump, looking forward to supporting him, we need to get him back in the White House and get some normalcy back in our country.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Belmont University Campus” by Belmont University.
