Seven students showed up to the Simon Center for Economics and Business on Sunday as Stephen Pryor ‘71 addressed Lafayette College’s Turning Point USA chapter via Zoom.
Pryor, a former ExxonMobil vice president and Lafayette Board of Trustees vice chair, discussed politics, Christianity and his career in business as part of the conservative organization’s five-part speaker series.
Noah Hajdu ‘26, the chapter president, attributed the “smaller group” to the baseball team’s absence, with a chunk of its membership competing in the team’s away series against Navy.
“They didn’t do too well this weekend, so they’re not in a great mood,” Hajdu joked.
Multiple attendees asked not to be identified in the article, citing fears of backlash for their political beliefs. The meeting began less than 72 hours after a Student Government meeting that saw Hajdu field questions about the chapter.
“Everyone thinks I hate everyone, which I don’t,” said Reagan Burke ‘26, a member of the executive board, referencing a question regarding the organization’s position on LGBTQ+ people at the Student Government meeting.
Pryor’s opening cast the chapter in a much more positive light. He praised members for their willingness to “engage in honest conversations” with others, calling their activism “a beautiful thing.”
“Hate is where you exclude people, demonize people,” Pryor said. “What you’re trying to do, in my view, is love.”
He spent the majority of the talk detailing his political philosophy, religion and career, warning of a “war on the West” waged by China, “radical Islam” and “far-left foundations and financiers.”
“It is not your fault that your fellow students are being presented the propaganda of America’s adversaries,” Pryor said.
Pryor described Lafayette as a politically apathetic institution during his matriculation.
“We had a ‘Young Republicans,’” he said. “That was the name of the bar where you could get served on Sunday morning.”
Pryor sat on the college’s Board of Trustees for 15 years and served as vice chair for six prior to his retirement in 2018. He currently serves as chairman of the board for Catholic International University, a predominantly online institution based in Charles Town, West Virginia.
Pryor also spoke extensively of his Catholic faith, becoming emotional as he described the moment he “turned to Jesus” in 1990, before outlining various responsibilities of “being a Christian in commerce.”
“I came to realize that my career provided a platform to role model my Christian values and to reflect the light of Christ to others,” Pryor said.
Pryor joined Mobil upon graduation and spent his entire 43-year career with the company, including its 1998 merger with Exxon. He was appointed as the company’s vice president in 2004 and jointly served as president of a subsidiary chemical company until his retirement in 2015.
R Marshall Austin MD, Class of 1971 • Apr 21, 2026 at 10:00 am
(John 15:18-20) 18) “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19) If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20) Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.