WI University English Department Chair Accused Of Violent Act Against Young Republicans
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire police were searching for a suspect accused of violently turning over the college GOP’s election information table, multiple sources tell The Federalist. The attack, chronicled on social media, came as Wisconsinites vote in a nationally watched, politically charged state Supreme Court election that will determine whether conservatives or liberals control the Badger State’s court of last resort.
Tatiana Bobrowicz, chairwoman of the campus College Republicans, tells The Federalist that police have confirmed the suspect is José Felipe Alvergue, associate professor and chairman of the university’s English Department. Bobrowicz said law enforcement officials were still looking for Alvergue this afternoon and had planned to cite him with disorderly conduct. UW-Eau Claire police did not return two requests for comment.
In a statement to The Federalist, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Interim Provost Michael Carney declined to identify the suspect but said “the faculty member involved has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.”
‘The Time for This Is Over!’
The young Republican said she and a fellow club member had just set up the information table outside a campus election site and were handing out water, donuts, and pamphlets about Republican candidates on the ballot when Alvergue brusquely approached them. He asked them why they were operating so close to the polling place. Bobrowicz said she informed him that they were at a proper distance prescribed by law. She said she received clearance from the university intergovernmental affairs director. The table was located well beyond 100 feet from the entrance of the polling site, she said, in accordance with the law.
Alvergue was hearing none of it, according to Bobrowicz.
“He said, ‘The time for this is over!’ And then he flipped over the table and walked away,” she said.
“We’ve tabled at this location every election. And college Democrats are generally closer to it than we are,” she added.
‘I Was in Panic Mode’
When the suspect walked up, Bobrowicz said she felt there was going to be an issue. The college Republicans on a left-leaning University of Wisconsin System campus were used to hearing hateful things this pitched election season in a high-stakes race. The college GOP chairwoman said while she was explaining the group’s right to be at the site, Alvergue took his hands from his pockets. Spring elections in Wisconsin can be frigid, and Tuesday was no exception in Eau Claire. Bobrowicz thought the angry man might snap some photos and post them on social media. Instead, she said, he turned over the table and stormed off.
“I was in panic mode,” she said, adding that she felt her mind and body go into a “flutter-flight response.”
“I was shaky afterward. It took two hours for me to settle down,” she said in a campus phone interview with The Federalist. Given the hostility of a left seething in Trump derangement syndrome in an election seen as the first real test of President Trump’s support in the opening months of his second administration, Bobrowicz worried things could have been worse.
“I was scared for my own safety, and I was calling people that I knew in the county party around us asking, ‘How can we stay safe? We don’t want to back down and put our table away, but I don’t want to be out here if it’s going to be like this,’” the young Republican said.
She was assured that there would be a police presence at and around the polling site. The UW-Eau Claire campus Republicans remain in place with about half a dozen club members working the table.
Wisconsin GOP Chairman Brian Schimming confirmed the incident and reposted the college Republicans’ photos on his X account to get the word out. “It was pretty dramatic,” Schimming said in an interview with The Federalist. “If they don’t have that guy on leave by 5 p.m., there’s going to be hell to pay.”
Carney said UW-Eau Claire officials are working with the “Universities of Wisconsin and the Office of General Counsel, which is conducting a comprehensive investigation of this matter.”
“I am deeply concerned that our students’ peaceful effort to share information on campus on election day was disrupted. UW-Eau Claire strongly supports every person’s right to free speech and free expression, and the university remains committed to ensuring that campus is a place where a wide variety of opinions and beliefs can be shared and celebrated,” the administrator said. “Civil dialogue is a critical part of the university experience, and peaceful engagement is fundamental to learning itself.
All Eyes on Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s spring election features what The Wall Street Journal has billed as “the most important election of 2025.” Far-left Dane County Judge Susan Crawford is vying against conservative Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel in a state Supreme Court election projected to top $100 million in spending — smashing records as the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history. The race has national implications, as well. Democrats have salivated over the fact that a liberal-led court could effectively approve redrawn congressional maps in favor of Democrats, giving the left an improved shot at taking back the House in next year’s midterms.
Billionaires on the left — George Soros and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker — and on the right — Elon Musk — have pumped millions of dollars into the race. The left has gone apoplectic over Musk, a key Trump adviser and the force behind the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), backing the conservative candidate.
‘Cranking It Like It’s November’
Schimming said the Republican Party of Wisconsin Election Integrity Team had resolved 127 election-related issues, with five in progress, as of early afternoon. In one case liberal vote-pushers in Milwaukee set up DJ tables much too close to polling stations. They were shut down, Schimming said. Not surprisingly, election officials in Green Bay and elsewhere were dealing with weather-related (snow and cold) power outages. Observer access was a reported problem in liberal enclave Racine, but that matter, too, had been resolved, Schimming said.
“We have hundreds of people on this today,” the GOP chairman said. “We’re cranking it like it’s November.”
*This story has been updated to include comment from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
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