Protests and other opposition materialized this week and last week ahead of UA Young Americans for Freedom’s “What is a Woman?” event with Matt Walsh. What follows is a full timeline of events surrounding the tour promotion and various forms of protest. This will be updated as new events unfold.
- On Sept. 27, YAF announced the event. It will consist of a “What is a Woman?” documentary screening and a live Q&A with Matt Walsh on Oct. 27.
- On Sept. 29, UA YAF held their first WIAW tour promotional tabling. Volunteers approached passersby to ask what they believe a woman is. Data was collected.
- On Oct. 2, The Crimson White posted their first article about the event, which detailed the hesitance of some SGA senators to fund the YAF event.
- On Oct. 3, YAF held a second tabling.
- On Oct. 4, YAF held a third tabling.
Also on Oct. 4, Walsh made his first tour stop at the Catholic University of America.
- On Oct. 5, The Crimson White posted another article about the YAF event with comments from the UA YAF President, Wyatt Eichholz and representatives of opposition groups.
- On Oct. 6, Walsh made his second tour stop at the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign.
- On Oct. 11, Walsh made his third tour stop at the University of Central Florida.
- On Oct. 13, YAF executives and volunteers hung their first round of promotional posters in campus academic buildings. Almost immediately, posters began to disappear. Replacements installed over the following days also disappeared.
Also on Oct. 13, Walsh made his fourth tour stop at the University of Houston.
- On Oct. 18, more YAF’ers spent the evening drawing almost forty chalk advertisements on UA sidewalks. The same night, a small group of students poured water on some. Within a few days, almost all of the advertisements were scuffed out or poured over.
Some chalkings were drawn over and defaced, with the actor adding new comments. The additions included “Lesbians!”; “Homo”; “No Place 4 Hate”; “Your mom”; and “Don’t Fund Hate.”
Other separate chalkings that appeared later read, “Remember Stonewall.”
Also on Oct. 18, Capstone Free Press obtained the information that members of the Social Work Association of Cultural Awareness planned to write a letter to University administration about the posters that had been hung in Little Hall, the primary building for the School of Social Work. It is unclear if the letter was ever written, sent, or responded to.
- On Oct. 19, Capstone Free Press obtained screenshots of messages sent in the UA Planned Parenthood Generation Action GroupMe. In the message, the group’s president, Ashley Whitmire, announced that her group and other “like-minded” campus organizations would be organizing a protest on the night of Matt Walsh’s appearance. At the meeting planned for that night, Whitmire said the attendees would be making protest signs.
Whitmire did not respond to a request for comment.
- On Oct. 21, The Crimson White posted two opinion essays about the Matt Walsh event. One was written by Eichholz and another YAF executive, Christian Calvert. The other was written by leadership from the Leftist Collective.
- On Oct. 22, the UA Queer Student Organization annouced on social media a protest in collaboration with UA Planned Parenthood Generation Action, the UA Leftist Collective, and the UA College Democrats. The post encouraged protesters to “dress with pride” and “keep your cool.” The protest is scheduled to take place on the Quad on Oct. 27, 5-8 p.m.
- On Oct. 24, posters with the same graphics from the social media protest announcements began appearing in academic buildings.
Also on Oct. 24, Walsh made his fifth tour stop at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- On Oct. 25, The Leftist Collective held a poster-making meeting.
- On Oct. 26, new protest posters appeared in academic buildings.
Also on the night of Oct. 26, YAF volunteers did a second round of chalking. - EVENT DAY: OCTOBER 27
By 11:00 a.m., almost all of the fifty or more chalkings YAF volunteers drew were gone.
See full information about the event here.
