The College Fix

Protesters ‘will face legal and disciplinary action if they are identified,’ university spokesperson says

SEATTLE – A University of Washington Turning Point USA chapter event featuring an ambassador for the Riley Gaines Center amounted to a heckler’s veto Tuesday after protesters disrupted her pro-woman talk, leading to its cancellation.

Olivia Krolczyk was unable to give her talk, “Protect Women from Men: The Threat of the Trans Agenda,” after protesters pulled the fire alarm and later smashed a window in the building. The university’s TPUSA chapter and the Leadership Institute hosted the event.

“The responsibility for interrupting last night’s event falls on those whose actions were disruptive and damaging, including breaking a window, graffiti in the building and wasting firefighters’ time with a false fire alarm,” university spokesperson Victor Balta told The College Fix in an email Wednesday.

“Anyone who is identified to have been responsible for vandalism or property damage will be pursued through legal channels,” he said.

However, Balta also said organizers made the choice to suspend the event.

He told The Fix campus police discussed security for the event with organizers weeks ago, but the student club “unfortunately, changed its plans during the course of the day.”

“The group committed to requiring registration by attendees in advance of the event and did not follow through on that requirement,” he said.

“Again, those seeking to disrupt and shut down speakers are ultimately responsible and will face legal and disciplinary action if they are identified,” Balta said. “It is also important for organizers to follow advice provided by UWPD regarding security if the true intention is to hold an event without disruption.”

Prior to the scheduled event, activists formed a line dance protest that began around 5:30 p.m. outside the building, The Daily, UW’s student paper, reports.

Some protesters had fans that they flung around while they were dancing. One dancer wore a shirt that read “Thank God I’m Trans.”

The protesters blocked the pathway for students trying to walk to class. Some spun around with signs that read: “The Real Trans Agenda: Joy, Love, & Liberation,” “You are loved” on top of a painted trans flag, and “Protect Trans Kids.”

Others wrote messages in chalk on the sidewalk, including, “All my girlfriends have dicks.”

TPUSA student leaders began preparing inside Thomson Hall 101 for the presentation at around 6 p.m. Simultaneously, a group of about 100 students marched outside the location in a parade led by an individual carrying a trans flag. Protesters also brought tables with signs students could use to protest the event.

As students were admitted into the lecture hall, a fire alarm was pulled in the building. Soon afterward, police officers on site told everyone to evacuate the room.

Protesters holding red, helium-filled balloons quickly walked out. The balloons, which they left behind, floated to the ceiling and appeared to be attached to a noisemaker that went off after the protesters left.

Outside the building, some of the protesters started to yell insults at Jonathan Choe, an independent journalist at the event. In an X post, Choe identified some of them as members of Antifa.

After a local fire department cleared the building, officials allowed the TPUSA leaders to go back inside.

The student club decided to continue with the event but to limit it to known members, friends, and acquaintances. Campus police heavily guarded the building, not letting unauthorized persons in. Even students attending classes in the building had to weave through the protesters and answer questions from police before entering.

However, the event did not last long as protesters began banging on the exit door to the room, and later broke a window and threw a noisemaker into the building.

At that point, officers with the UW Police Department asked everyone to leave the building in groups of two to three and escorted them to a side exit door.

Neither campus police nor Sally Clark, vice president of campus community safety, immediately responded to The Fix’s questions via email Wednesday, asking about any possible arrests and charges, as well as the extent of the vandalism.

After the event, Krolczyk called out protesters for violating free speech on the public university campus.

“Disappointed that I couldn’t host my event tonight with @TPUSA @RileyGCenter due to University of Washington’s utter disregard for our safety and our rights to free speech,” she wrote on X.

“I was met with threats of violence, harassed by protestors, held hostage in a room, windows were shattered, alarms continuously pulled, and forced to evacuate the premises due to increasing safety concerns,” Krolczyk wrote.

Hours before the protests, Turning Point members promoted the event by tabling in the quad with minimal disruption. Students walked by with facial signs of disgust or the middle finger, and Students for a Democratic Society tabled in protest.

“No, you want to take away my rights,” one onlooker commented while walking by.

When Krolczyk arrived, she walked around to look at the posters across campus protesting the event. The messages included “No TPUSA Transphobia at UW!” and “UW Stands Against Transphobia.”

With the purpose of opening a democratic dialogue, Krolczyk also tried to initiate conversations with passersby, but she was consistently ignored.

Krolczyk became a public advocate for women’s rights after she said she received a failing grade for using the term “biological woman” in an assignment at the University of Cincinnati.

After gaining widespread attention on TikTok regarding the incident, she was banned from the platform. She was accused of violating its “community guidelines.”

Editor’s note: Paris Apodaca is a student member of the TPUSA chapter at the University of Washington.

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IMAGES/VIDEOS: Paris Apodaca

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