Rutgers’ annual Safety Matters report provides three years of on- and off-campus crime statistics, according to the university’s Institutional Planning and Operations. That description does not establish whether Doyle’s allegation about an incident in Maryland is represented in the figures. The university says its campus police received her report but did not conduct a criminal investigation because the alleged incident happened outside New Jersey.
Megyn Doyle, an 18-year-old Rutgers sophomore and former vice president of the university’s Turning Point USA chapter, says she was assaulted in a hotel room during the organization’s chapter leadership summit on July 9. She has said she is working with Rutgers to understand her legal options. The allegation and Turning Point’s response have been reported by The Fresno Bee and The Daily Targum.
Doyle said she went to another chapter leader’s room around 11 p.m. to collect period products. She alleged there was a dispute over the products and a pillow fight, and that a man slapped and pinned her and pressed his knee to her groin. She said she was unsure whether his actions were sexually motivated. These are Doyle’s allegations, not a finding that an assault occurred.
The encounter is disputed. The group called the “Un-(expletive) America Tour” shared a four-second clip showing a woman on a bed under pillows, with men around her; one jumps onto the bed. The Fresno Bee reported that a police report described video viewed by police as appearing to show consensual face-slapping and pillow fighting. The clip and the competing accounts do not, on their own, resolve what happened.
Doyle said she reported the incident to Rutgers campus police on Oct. 26. University spokesperson Dory Devlin said the department received a report of an alleged assault in Maryland but did not investigate it as a crime because the incident was outside its jurisdiction. That is the university’s account of its own response; it does not establish whether another agency investigated the allegation.
Turning Point said its staff were not involved and were not told about the allegations during the summit. After learning of the report in October, the organization said it opened an internal investigation and sought interviews with those involved. It said interviewed participants denied that a sexual assault occurred; Doyle declined an interview. The organization also said a man allegedly involved was removed from the conference the next day for an unrelated matter and later barred from future events. Doyle said she had previously raised concerns to a Turning Point leader about Baez continuing to message her after she asked him to stop.
Doyle, a former chapter vice president, has spoken publicly about the allegation. Her warning comes as the group prepares to host AmericaFest in Phoenix: AZFamily reports the event is scheduled for Dec. 17–20 at the Phoenix Convention Center, with thousands expected and speakers including Vice President JD Vance, Erika Kirk and Donald Trump Jr. The scheduled gathering is separate from the Maryland summit at which Doyle says the assault occurred.
