UW-Eau Claire professor placed on leave after flipping College Republicans table

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has placed the chair of its English department on leave after he allegedly flipped over a table set up by the College Republicans.

Tatiana Bobrowicz, who chairs the chapter, said the group set up a table Tuesday morning on the outdoor campus mall with permission from the university to support conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel.

“A man came up to our table and said, ‘What are you doing?’” Bobrowicz said. “I hadn’t even finished when he said, ‘The time for this is over,’ and just flipped the table.”

The College Republicans posted a video on X after the table was flipped.

Bobrowicz called campus police and the man was identified as Professor José Felipe Alvergue.

Bobrowicz, a junior, said the 10-second incident itself was scary. But the reaction from her fellow classmates Wednesday has been more disturbing.

On the social media site Yik Yak, students have been posting anonymous comments saying the UW-Eau Claire Campus Republicans were “overreacting” to Alvergue’s behavior.

“They’re little post they made was SO dramatic as if they don’t support rapists and felons like come on …” one post reads.

Bobrowicz said when a professor engages in a violent act against students based on their 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 said. “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.”

Alvergue did not immediately respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment from WPR. 

In a statement, UW-Eau Claire Interim Provost Michael Carney said he was deeply concerned that 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,” Carney said. 

The campus is working with the Universities of Wisconsin and the Office of General Counsel to conduct an investigation, Carney said. 

Alvergue has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation.

Bobrowicz said she is happy with how the university has responded to the situation.

On Alvergue’s personal website, he says he was born in El Salvador and migrated with his family to the United States at the start of El Salvador’s civil war, which stared in 1980. He grew up on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Now as a parent, as a partner, as a teacher, a voter, a neighbor, it has become ever more imperative for me to find new ways of clarifying where the self begins and ends, and tending to the clarity of one’s love for an other,” his personal statement says.