Macy Gunnell

Macy Gunnell (c. 2004 – ) is an American conservative political activist.

on ideological bias in higher education and her role in the 2023 reversal of a transgender admissions policy at St. Mary's College. Gunnell has served as a communications intern at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and is currently a reporter for Newsforce.1 Gunnell is also the press secretary of the College Republicans of America. She is a critic of diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and has covered the second Trump Administration positively.

Early life

Macy Gunnell was raised in Plainfield, Indiana, an area she has referred to as the "cornfields of Indiana." She attended Plainfield High School, where she was active in the show choir "Belles et Beaux," eventually serving as dance captain and winning state-level awards for visuals. Her mother, Jennifer Thompson Sandke, was a licensed cosmetologist who passed away in March 2018. In 2022, Gunnell graduated from Plainfield High School in Indiana. She enrolled at St. Mary’s College, a private Catholic women's institution, to study economics and political science.

Political Career

In 2023, while working as an assistant in the St. Mary’s College admissions office in November, Gunnell discovered an internal policy change which would allow the admission of trans women. She leaked this policy to the media, sparking a national debate involving the local Bishop and national conservative organizations. Following significant backlash and the withdrawal of donors, the college's Board of Trustees reversed the policy in December 2023.

Gunnell became a prominent voice in the "Protecting Women's Spaces" movement, appearing on the Independent Women’s Forum "She Thinks" podcast and being featured in the Wall Street Journal and Fox News. She also began serving as a correspondent for Campus Reform, publishing more than one dozen investigative pieces on various subjects.

In 2025 from January 27 to May 14, Gunnell served as a District Intern for U.S. Representative Rudy Yakym (R-IN). During the summer of 2025, she served as a communications intern in the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the second Trump administration. Gunnell then entered her senior year at St. Mary's College, where she assumed the presidency of the campus Turning Point USA (TPUSA) chapter. She was president of this chapter during the [...] of Charlie Kirk. Gunnell is currently a reporter at Newsforce and the press secretary for the College Republicans of America, a breakaway collection of College Republican chapters.

Recognition

  • Innovation Award Nominee, Geelong Youth Awards (2025)
  • Best Visuals Award, Indiana State Show Choir Finals (as Dance Captain) (2022)

See also

  • Catholic higher education
  • Independent Women's Forum
  • Office of Management and Budget
  • Turning Point USA
  • College Republicans