We have been following the rise of political violence on the left since the Trump election. In reality, attacks on conservative and pro-life faculty and students is nothing new. Today, I am speaking at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill on free speech after a student recently trashed a pro-life table on the campus in Asheville. Now, on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a professor allegedly trashed a table of the College Republicans over their support for Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel. The accused José Felipe Alvergue, is not just a professor but the chair of the English department.
Tatiana Bobrowicz, the chair of the College Republicans at the school, said she set up the table supporting Schimel outside the student center about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, with candy, doughnuts and literature. Then a man walked up and demanded to know what they were doing. He accused them of being too close to a polling location (which was located in the nearby student center).
Bobrowicz tried to explain that they were not in violation (which allows for tables beyond 100 feet) and that location was approved by the university. She then said that the man declared “the time for this is over,” flipped the table over and then walked away.
Bobrowicz immediately called the police and the UW-Eau Claire identified the man as José Felipe Alvergue, the chair of the English department. He has been put on leave by the univerity.
In his university bio, Alvergue identifies as “a member of the Salvadoran diaspora.” He adds this rather cryptic statement about “unlocking empathy”:
” I believe that we can’t unlock the empathy hidden behind words if we don’t understand what is at stake in the risk writers and artists take when they decide to transform the matter which makes up the world around them into the story words communicate.”
He is now charged with disorderly conduct, according to Wisconsin court records. While this is a relatively minor crime, it was a crime committed against both students and free speech on campus. He must appear for a court appearance on May 7.
He would be hardly unique in advocating or even being convicted of political violence on campus.
It is now common to hear inflammatory language from professors advocating “detonating white people,” denouncing police, calling for Republicans to suffer, strangling police officers, celebrating the death of conservatives, calling for the killing of Trump supporters, supporting the murder of conservative protesters and other outrageous statements.
At the University of Rhode Island, professor Erik Loomis defended the murder of a conservative protester and said that he saw “nothing wrong” with such acts of violence. The University of Rhode Island was so appalled by his apparent support for political violence that it made him Director of Graduate Studies of History.
Years ago, many of us were shocked by the conduct of University of Missouri communications professor Melissa Click who directed a mob against a student journalist covering a Black Lives Matter event. Yet, Click was hired by Gonzaga University. Since that time, we have seen a steady stream of professors joining students in shouting down, committing property damage, participating in riots, verbally attacking students, or even taking violent action in protests.
At the University of California Santa Barbara, professors actually rallied around feminist studies associate professor Mireille Miller-Young, who physically assaulted pro-life advocates and tore down their display. Despite pleading guilty to criminal assault, she was not fired and received overwhelming support from the students and faculty. She was later honored as a model for women advocates.
At Hunter College in New York, Professor Shellyne Rodríguez was shown trashing a pro-life display of students.
She was captured on a videotape telling the students that “you’re not educating s–t […] This is f–king propaganda. What are you going to do, like, anti-trans next? This is bulls–t. This is violent. You’re triggering my students.”
Unlike the professor, the students remained calm and respectful. One even said “sorry” to the accusation that being pro-life was triggering for her students.
Rodríguez continued to rave, stating, “No you’re not — because you can’t even have a f–king baby. So you don’t even know what that is. Get this s–t the f–k out of here.” In an Instagram post, she is then shown trashing the table.
Hunter College, however, did not consider this unhinged attack to be sufficient to terminate Rodríguez.
It was only after she later chased reporters with a machete that the college fired Rodríguez. She was then hired by another college.
Another example comes from the State University of New York at Albany, where sociology professor Renee Overdyke shut down a pro-life display and then resisted arrest. One student is heard screaming, “She’s a [expletive] professor.” That of course is the point.
If convicted, Alvergue would be not just guilty of the underlying charge but committing political violence against students. There does not appear to have been mitigating circumstances or any provocation other than students who hold an opposing view from his own.
He then walked away rather than address the matter with the students and the authorities. If convicted, the question is whether conservative students should have to wait for Alvergue to find a way to “unlock [his] empathy” through what is clearly uncontrollable rage.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University and the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
My guess is Professor Alvergue was a DEI-cluster hire…as well as a lot of the the other so-called radical academics listed in this who’s who of violent faculty.
Socrates never trashed a student’s display table. Real professors know the value of mentoring by actions as well as words. Done right, today’s student is tomorrow’s mentor, and that’s a lifelong process. One of the most fulfilling things in the law practice is mentoring younger lawyers navigating first time issues in their careers. It all starts on campus living up to Socrates.
The Left has always been the source of violence and terrorism – domestic and otherwise. Like this horrid person, they act like 3 y/o’s and use physical tantrums because they don’t have logic or words to support their emotional instability. Of course it’s deadly in some instances, like Stalin/Lenin/Mao/Chavez/Castro and now our Tesla firebombers. Let’s hope they are punished for their violence. I trust Pam B to make a difference with these unstable violent children.
DEMS SCREAM- but but Jan 6th!
Exposing the fetid swamp of unhinged academics is a good thing – especially when they self-identify; the bigger fight will be eliminating those responsible for hiring these soldiers of American hatred.
Find out the people pushing these unfit, mentally unstable farces who pose as intellectuals – expose them and push for their removal and replace them with individuals who want truth rather than propaganda and ideology to be their touchstones.
Education has become a rat’s nest of left wing stooges free to poison young minds.
“José Felipe Alvergue, is not just a professor but the chair of the English department.” Tells you all you need to know about Wisconsin haha.
Dear Mr. Turley, as a Wisconsin resident, I am not surprised at this outburst. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if the Professor had calmly engaged these Pro-life students with their thoughts on why they believe in the murder of the unborn child. Instead, as they are filled with violence themselves, this is how they react. It is my hope the University will fire this Professor.
Firing him would only be a bandaid. Firing those who hire this type of fanatic progressive would go a lot longer in solving this problem.
Thank you professor for pointing out the rage and hate the left spews and then engages in political violence and even domestic terrorism. As long as these unhinged leftists can continue in this uncivil behavior, they will continue their violence.
NotReallyaFarmer
Once again NotReallyaFarmer is up bright and early.
With all the imaginary farm chores done for the day, we get his first comment at 8:10am so he can settle in for a full day of commenting.
It is truly amazing how he can get all his chores done so early in the day.
Or perhaps I am mistaken and he is multitasking again.
Driving the tractor while reading comments and typing takes great skill.
Watch out for those ditches.
I would hate to see you have an accident.
Anonymous8:58AM-Some farmers are quite efficient and known to multitask because of the variety and types of farming, equipment and equipment repair, as well as sometimes herds of hogs and cows or even chickens. He may also be in an area where tillage has been done but it may be too early for planting. Depends on the farmer and the farm. I would think you would have known that.
As far as ditches are concerned I would be more worried about you. You may be on the verge of a Texas Off Ramp. Well known in the SW
Upstate, this post by JT inspired me to look up the FBI/DHS definition of Domestic Terrorism. This act by José Felipe Alvergue qualifies with the exception of the degree of harm the violence intended to inflict. That seems to be open to interpretation. It’s time to remove the result of the violence as the determining factor and prosecute the intended impact of the violence.
Another Left Wing Radical Professor gone Wild. The Universities simply need to educate staff, we are open to Free Speech and Different views but not destruction or physical violence if you disagree. The University can and should start firing the radical Staff who prompt or encourage violence.
I’d prefer Pam Bondi bring Federal Terrorism Charges
Every Day is Kristallnacht to Democrats….TeslaNacht, CollegeNacht, VaxNacht, etc
It is about frightening people to not fight Democrat government!
Worked for Fascists of Germany 1930’s
End the FUNDING to Democrat POWER!
Its getting to the point that simply allowing Hamas supporters to burn down universities could be the best thing ever for America’s future.
If you want to stop this, pass laws treating a college course like any other commercial product with liabilities for fraud, defective products, and personal injury.
end Federal Aid to cities, states, colleges, non-profits
End public unions
Watch Capitalism end the Democrat Party…the Party of Fascism!
Colleges like Public Unions are Democrat Political Armies.
DEFUND THEM!
Ban Public unions…if JFK can allow them…then Trump can END THEM!
Also END Federal Aid to colleges/Students. Allow Capitalism to FIX Colleges…and destroy professors like this FASCISTS English professor
I’ve been retired from the University of Oregon for 15 years, after 12 years on the faculty as a research assistant. During my years there I watched the demise of the Republican student’s group and the gradual increase in assumption that everyone one the faculty shared the same views on conservatives, but never any violent behavior. The level of violence displayed lately indicated an immaturity and narcissism that can only be surpassed by angry, undisciplined children having a fit when a parent denies them their wishes. How and why can the parents who pay the high costs at a university continue to support this sort of leadership?
no mojaverose22 the level of DEMOCRAT violence displayed lately SHOWS Democrats HATE America
They Love illegals, crime, drugs, debt, war, etc
Universities aren’t funded by parents….they are FUNDED with Federally Backed Student Loans…which ALL Democrats plan on NOT PAYING BACK!
Something like $2 Trillion outstanding after Biden singularly paid off $500 BILLION…over 4 years
We need to STOP THE SHAM of public workers having their STUDENT LOANS paid off by HARD WORKING TAXPAYERS as WELL!
Fits right in with other Democrat activities, such as burning cars and buildings, shooting health-care CEOs and disrupting conservative events.
# Jose Felipe admits he’s ill and it’s whitey’s fault.
He should be put on leave because of emotional instability with psych care lest he go large with turning tables.
It’s a class B misdemeanor in Wisconsin. Penalties are up to a $1000 and/or up to 90 days in jail. The professor got charged and he will go to court. Will he get fired? Probably, but it also depends on the totality of the cirumstances and Turley who loves portraying these incidents in the worst possible light to make them look bigger than they really are. The professor flipped a table. So did Jesus.
The worst that could come out of this is the school will suspend the professor for a few days or attend some sort of trainnig course mandated by the court or just pay a fine. The professor exercised poor judgment and he will face the consequences.
Calling it political violence is a stretch. But it doesn’t stop Turley from using the term to it’s maximum effect. It’s just disorderly conduct.
This professor in no way can be compared with Jesus. This professor committed an act of violence and that is NOT a stretch. What is a stretch is anyone having the audacity to defend such heinous behavior…
“ This professor in no way can be compared with Jesus.”
You’re saying flipping a table is an act of violence. Jesus flipped several, right? He also committed an act of violence. Both were angry at those at the tables.
Not defending the behavior, just pointing out the fact that he still faces consequences.
You’re suggesting the death penalty?
in Wisconsin…the professor will be MADE A HERO!
Only someone as partisan and dumb as George would say “it depends on the totality of the circumstances” (trying to use a legal standard to make himself sound like he knows what he is talking about) when discussing a PROFESSOR physically trashing the materials of a STUDENT for a political reason.
Hey George, what would your opinion be if a conservative professor (I know, suspend reality for this example) trashed the table of a PERMITTED Justice for Palestine display? Or a table in support of Trans insanity? Or, heaven forbid, a table set up by Planned Parenthood?
The guy needs to be fired and he needs to be fired now. This isn’t free speech, this was criminal action. This wasn’t praying outside an abortion center, this was a physical altercation.
George, your daily contrarian arguments are getting boring.
Hullbobby-George is total BS, otherwise known as Boring and Stupid.
HullBobby, GEB,
Got that right. The good professor points out how the leftists have embraced violence and even domestic terrorism and they try to justify it with absurd and even dumb explanations.
Uh hem, the slow and stupid one 😂 (of the litter).
“Hey George, what would your opinion be if a conservative professor (I know, suspend reality for this example) trashed the table of a PERMITTED Justice for Palestine display? Or a table in support of Trans insanity? Or, heaven forbid, a table set up by Planned Parenthood?“
It would be the same. Why would it be any different? It’s up to the judge to determine the severity of the penalty.
“The guy needs to be fired and he needs to be fired now.”
Your demand to impose the maximum punishment regardless of the totality if the circumstances is typical of conservative thought. No due process or investigation or determination. Just instant firing.
“This wasn’t praying outside an abortion center, this was a physical altercation.“
Praying inside a zone designated by law as a buffer is a crime. The praying isn’t the issue. Its where it was done that is.
# it’s preventing a person from entering a clinic slow and stupid one.
So did Jesus? So the comparison is the temple and the college? Jose is jesus? Free speech is disallowed in the temple of education?
Nah
George posted Calling it political violence is a stretch. But it doesn’t stop Turley from using the term to it’s maximum effect. It’s just disorderly conduct.
George wasn’t stopped from just posted that firebombing Tesla dealerships and assaulting Tesla owners is just “vandalism”. And now professors assaulting students because they feel those students are offending their political beliefs is just disorderly conduct in George World.
What’s a stretch is that anybody including George thinks he has any credibility here – and that he’s anything more than a violent Cheap Fake American Democrat communist.
Jesus flipped tables because people had turned a holy place into a market place where people were being cheated. He also cracked a whip to get people and animals to leave, although it doesn’t say he whipped any people directly.
A college campus is not a holy place. The student republican table was not cheating anyone.
I don’t think what the professor did was violence. It was immature, unprofessional, and setting a bad example.
This is the flip-side of the Politics of Joy. It is even less effective, but much more colorful.
It kind of undercuts their constant references to Nazi brown shirts tho.
Told ya. This is the story I said Turley would use because it melds nicely with his “age of rage” narrative and it provides a nice distraction from Trump’s attacks on free speech and disastrous tariff policy.
LOL Democrats WHO JAIL people over free speech…complaining…that is funny. Move to Canada
Wanna give us a detailed list of Trump’s attacks on free speech with specific references to specific events?
Sure, here are a couple. Mahmoud Khalil. Arrested for the audacity to protest against Israeli policy and pass flyers. He’s being punished for exercising his free speech rights.
meysa Ozturk, arrested for writing an Op-Ed criticizing her school. She’s being punished by Trump revoking her student visa, just because she wrote something the Trump administration didn’t like.
Both instances are direct violations of their free speech rights.
George’s examples are in fact examples of foreigners giving support to terrorist groups, groups that have been labeled as such by the proper authorities.
So in George’s world tipping over a table of support for a candidate for the WI supreme court being set up by students that paid to attend the college is the same as foreign guests marching for our sworn enemies, taking over buildings, damaging buildings, forcing the suspension of paid for classes and denying actual students from using the facilities they paid for because of their known religion??
George, your lame desire to be contrarian is making you sound even dumber than usual.
HullBobby,
Dont forget, that same foreigner also destroyed property, trespassing and held a janitor against his will. That janitor wrote about being held against his will in The Free Press.
Upstate, the hills these fools die on are getting more and more rediculous.
“Dont forget, that same foreigner also destroyed property, trespassing and held a janitor against his will.”
Khalil did none of that.
Did Khalil have an association with violence? Yes. Case closed.
# Jose hates whitey. He’s been oppressed by whitey because he’s brown. He says whitey trespassed into El Salvador. He says his entire life was ruined by whitey and he seeks revenge as his portion.
PS : not my views but Jose’s.
“George’s examples are in fact examples of foreigners giving support to terrorist groups, groups that have been labeled as such by the proper authorities.”
Palestinians are not a terrorist group. The government has not produced evidence of such support. Accusations are not evidence.
“So in George’s world tipping over a table of support for a candidate for the WI supreme court being set up by students that paid to attend the college is the same as foreign guests marching for our sworn enemies, taking over buildings, damaging buildings, forcing the suspension of paid for classes and denying actual students from using the facilities they paid for because of their known religion??”
That’s not what I said. Your inability to read for comprehension seems to be the problem.
# Gaza is being occupied by hamas is your point? Then Israel is helping to clear them. Good point George.
“Palestinians are not a terrorist group.”
They are not designated as terrorists, though terrorism exists among those living In Judea and Samaria. Read what their leader, Abbas, says. Hamas is also in the West Bank (Judea and Samaria).
Did Khalil have an association with violence? Yes. Case closed.
Please remember to distinguish speech, which is protected, from conduct. From what I read, it was their conduct that lead to the proposed deportations
What conduct? Khalil didn’t engage in violence. Negotiating on behalf of the protesters with University is not a crime or consitutes support for terrorists or Hamas.
Ozturk just wrote an Op-Ed in the school paper. She was not even involved in any protest or committed violence. So why were they arrested and had their green card and studetn visa revoked.
The government has not provided any proof of their claims against them.
Keep in mind that conduct as in protesting is also 1st amendment protected activity. The distintion is if they personally engaged in violence or participated directly in obstructing Jewish students from their classes or directly supported terrorits groups by sending money or other material support. They have not been charged with any of that. They have been accused of being part of the protests. That is not evidence.
They were targeted because of their views and what they have said. Professor Turley knows Trump is violating their rights, but he won’t criticize him because he doesn’t want to face the backlash for undermining Trump’s false claims.
“What conduct? Khalil didn’t engage in violence”
Prove Khalil wasn’t associated with violence. You can’t. Case closed.
Today’s word – Fascists.
Good for the college group and surprisingly good for UW. The man’s conduct was over the top and some sort of rebuke was necessary