Leftist professor on leave after allegedly flipping over College Republicans' table, reportedly cited for disorderly conduct

A University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire professor was placed on administrative leave after he allegedly flipped over a College Republicans' table on campus Tuesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Online court records also indicated that José Felipe Alvergue — who is the chair of the English Department — was cited for disorderly conduct, WEAU-TV reported.

'It’s scary to see how much hatred there is toward us.'

Tatiana Bobrowicz, who chairs the College Republicans chapter, told the Journal Sentinel that she had just finished setting up a table outside the student center around 8:30 a.m. to promote conservative state supreme court candidate Brad Schimel. Liberal Susan Crawford ended up defeating Schimel, the Journal Sentinel said in a separate story.

Bobrowicz added to the paper that a male came to the table and asked why the group was so close to the polling location inside the student center. Wisconsin law doesn't permit activity intended to influence voting within 100 feet of an entrance to a building where voting is taking place, the Journal Sentinel said.

Bobrowicz told the paper she replied that the College Republicans always tabled in that location and that UW-Eau Claire had approved it.

'The time for this is over'

The male responded that "the time for this is over," flipped the table over, and walked away, the Journal Sentinel said.

Bobrowicz called police, filed a report — and added to the paper that the college notified her that Alvergue was the table flipper. The Journal Sentinel said Alvergue did not immediately return a call and email seeking comment, and the university did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

"This takes it to a whole new level," Bobrowicz told the paper in the aftermath. "Not just a professor, but a chair of a department. He’s supposed to set an example for students, and here he is setting an example of violence."

Bobrowicz added to the Journal Sentinel that while the incident lasted only about 10 seconds — you can view video of the aftermath here — it underscored the hostility conservatives face on campus.

What's more, she told the paper that reactions from other students were upsetting and that she heard comments such as the College Republicans "had it coming" and deserved it because of "how hateful" their views are.

"It’s scary to see how much hatred there is toward us," Bobrowicz added to the Journal Sentinel.

Wisconsin Public Radio said students have been posting anonymous comments on the social media site Yik Yak saying the College Republicans are “overreacting” to Alvergue’s behavior.

One post reads that the group's "little post ... was SO dramatic as if they don’t support rapists and felons like come on,” WPR noted.

'We have students who are afraid to go to classes today'

But Bobrowicz told WPR that when a professor gets violent over students' political beliefs, it reinforces the stereotype that college campuses are too liberal.

“We have students who are afraid to go to classes today because they are associated with our club, or they believe what we believe,” she explained to WPR. “This individual does not speak for all professors, but there is a type of example that he set, and there are students celebrating his actions.”

UW-Eau Claire Interim Provost Michael Carney in a statement to the campus community said the school is working with the University of Wisconsin System and the Office of General Counsel, which is "conducting a comprehensive investigation," the Journal Sentinel noted.

"I am deeply concerned that our students’ peaceful effort to share information on campus on election day was disrupted," Carney said, according to the paper.

More fallout

The Republican Party of Eau Claire County stated in part that Alvergue “should be required to apologize to the College Republicans and then be fired from the University of Eau Claire," WEAU noted.

The station added that Alvergue is temporarily stepping down as the Chair of the Pablo Confluence Board in the wake of the incident. The website for Pablo Center at the Confluence in Eau Claire says it "operates in support of a mission that is focused on augmenting and developing opportunities to experience the performing, literary, and visual arts for people of all ages and backgrounds."

The Pablo Center also declares on its website a "land acknowledgment," which reads, "We acknowledge that Pablo Center at the Confluence occupies the sacred and ancestral lands of Indigenous Peoples. We honor the land of the Ojibwe and Dakota Nations." The website also has an inclusivity statement.

Anything else?

On Alvergue's personal website, the beginning of his "statement of practice" reads as follows:

I was born in San Salvador, El Salvador, and migrated with my family to the United States at the commencement of El Salvador’s civil war. Growing up on the Mexico/US Border and being a part of the Central American diaspora have informed the nature of my work, which borrows from postlyric, docupoetic, and hybrid compositional practices. As have my experiences of living through the structural inequality, hate, and racial supremacy of Southern California’s political landscape during the late 1990s, including the various examples of xenophobic legislation, police abuse, and the militarization of the border.

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