The University of Washington faces growing accusations of failing to prevent “disruption” by protesters on campus after leftists violently shut down a conservative event.
A mob interrupted a speaker critical of transgenderism on Tuesday by pulling a campus fire alarm, breaking a window, writing graffiti in the building and other tactics, UW spokesperson Victor Balta confirmed in a statement shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation and other news outlets. This follows years of similarly disruptive actions against conservatives and officials at the public university, which Batla said is “committed to free exchange of ideas and the principles of academic freedom, in accordance with the First Amendment.”
“If that was true, the university would deal with these … violent protesters,” UW science professor Cliff Mass told the DCNF in an phone interview. “They’re just not doing it.” Mass publicly criticized the university last May, saying it “caved” to anti-Israel protesters by agreeing to waive tuition for 20 students and other demands in exchange for clearing out an unlawful protest encampment on campus.
“It’s pretty much the same thing,” Mass said about the protesters’ behavior that halted Tuesday’s event.
Leadership Institute activist Olivia Krolczyk hosted the event indoors with the conservative group Turning Point USA and posted footage of protesters banging on doors and setting off a noise device. She canceled the event due to security concerns and wore protective gear provided by police while they escorted her away from the campus.
UW’s Balta said that the blame for Tuesday’s incident falls on protesters “whose actions were disruptive and damaging” but also on Krolczyk.
“Informed discussion and debate are encouraged on our campus, however, it is clear that presenters and disruptors are, in some cases, seeking to antagonize one another in ways that provide dramatic content for their social media feeds,” Balta said.
“Tuesday’s scheduled speaker told the student newspaper that she was ‘excited’ the event was shut down,” Balta said. The spokesperson referenced a quote in which Krolczyk said she was “almost excited” because backlash to the event “means we’re doing something right.”
Multiple tense encounters at UW have stemmed from backlash to Turning Point USA. The group’s UW chapter filmed an interaction with a pro-transgender critic in April 2023 who flipped a table and yelled a “Nazi” slur at organizers. When Turning Point activist Jonathan Choe went filming near the anti-Israel encampment last May, protesters wearing black chased him and beat his personal security guard until his face bled. The university said it would investigate but did not report any arrests of the attackers.
Anti-Israel protesters also interrupted a UW board of regents meeting in September by shouting chants at a Jewish speaker, prompting the chair to adjourn the gathering, KOMO News reported.
Turning Point USA called Tuesday’s incident “a clear assault on free speech.”
“While the university claims to uphold the First Amendment, its failure to ensure a safe environment for open dialogue tells a different story,” the organization said in an email. “It’s time for the university to honor its stated values and protect the rights of all students to engage in respectful, uninhibited discourse instead of placing the blame on the speaker.”
Balta, the UW spokesperson, told the DCNF “the situation is complex” but that “these kinds of disruptions are unacceptable and the ultimate responsibility falls on those who sought to shut down the event.”
“We absolutely condemn anyone trying to disrupt another person’s right to speak, and we will pursue disciplinary action if anyone is identified as having committed a crime,” he said. “We regularly debrief after events such as Tuesday’s to review our processes and opportunities to make them run more smoothly and safely.”
Mass called UW’s accusation against Krolczyk “very unfair,” and another UW professor came to her defense Wednesday on X.
“The responsible thing to do is show some humility, apologize, kindly invite her back, address the root causes of the disruption, and do better next time. Very simple,” astronomy professor Mario Juric said. “Instead we publish a statement which, between the lines, reads as ‘well… she’s had it coming, she shouldn’t mouth off [too] much.’”
“Yesterday may have been attributed to lack of preparedness, but this is really difficult to interpret as coming in good faith,” Juric said.
Tuesday’s chaos, one day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, echoes the uproar against an event at UW by right-wing commentator Milo Yiannopoulos on the day of Trump’s previous Inauguration in Jan. 2017. A crowd containing Antifa agitators showed up to the campus and got into a brawl with Trump supporters that involved fistfights, throwing paint bombs and rocks, and a Trump supporter shooting an Antifa protester in self-defense, nearly killing him.
Ana Mari Cauce has been UW’s president since 2015. Last June, she announced plans to resign in 2025 and did not indicate this was in response to complaints about the encampment.
“I’m hoping that the next president of the University of Washington will have a more balanced view on freedom of speech,” Professor Mass said.
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