Midwest

Wisconsin professor slams ‘isolating environment’ for conservatives on campuses

Published

4 weeks ago

November 22, 2025

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Wisconsin professor slams ‘isolating environment’ for conservatives on campuses

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This story is part of Fox News Digital’s investigative series Campus Radicals. Get the full series here.

A professor in Wisconsin who recently went viral for a Facebook post in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination described an “isolating environment” for those on campus who harbor conservative views.

Trevor Tomesh is an assistant professor of computer, information and data science at the University of Wisconsin –River Falls. While he stressed that on his campus, he feels like there is room for dialogue among faculty members who might disagree politically, he recognizes that isn’t the case at every institute of higher learning in the United States.

“I do know, though, that even at somewhere like the University of Wisconsin—River Falls, a lot of professors are not very happy to speak up about their views if their views are contrary to the narrative, essentially,” Tomesh told Fox News Digital, stressing that his views do not represent those of the university where he teaches or the University of Wisconsin system.

Trevor Tomesh is a professor at the University of Wisconsin—River Falls. He spoke to Fox News Digital about being a conservative on a college campus on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (Fox News Digital)

Days after Kirk’s assassination on the campus of Utah Valley University, Tomesh took to Facebook to slam academia for its response to the murder. The post took off, not only on Facebook, but on platforms like X, where screenshots were shared far and wide by conservative influencers.

CHARLIE KIRK DIED FOR FREE SPEECH AND UNIVERSITIES STILL HAVE NOTHING TO SAY

“The fact that Charlie was killed on a college campus for expressing his opinions and ideas — the one place in society that’s sole purpose is to express opinions and ideas — should be a watershed moment for all universities,” he wrote. “Every single member of every single university community — faculty, administrators, staff and students — should be lamenting this as it spells the death of the university.”

Instead, Tomesh wrote, Kirk’s death was met with deafening silence.

“To date, there has been no statement from my university or the University of Wisconsin system,” he said. “Not a single one of my students heard from any of their professors about this. How do I know? I asked them.”

AFTER CHARLIE KIRK’S ASSASSINATION, LEFT-WING PROFESSORS DOUBLE DOWN ON SHREDDING HIS LEGACY

River Falls, WI, USA – June 5, 2022: The University of Wisconsin River Falls (Cheri Alguire/iStock)

He also expressed disgust for professors and students who celebrated Kirk’s assassination, and contrasted the reaction to Kirk’s killing with the reaction to a popular Christian, conservative speaker named Sister Cindy Smock holding an event on campus. The school, he said, offered trauma counselors to students, and “assembled a task force to determine how to handle people like Cindy and the trauma she inflicts on students.”

Despite his many efforts to get the University of Wisconsin system to address Kirk’s death, it did not.

“Once I came out as a conservative and I made my views known on Facebook, and that my post went viral on Facebook, I had a lot of faculty and staff from all over the world, but from my university as well, message me and say basically, hey, ‘I wish that I had the bravery to speak up like you do,’” Tomesh told Fox News Digital. “And so it’s kind of an environment, it’s a cold environment. It’s an isolating environment when you’re conservative on especially a very liberal campus, which I’m not on a particularly liberal campus, but when you’re on a very liberal campus, it can be very isolating.”

‘FEARLESS’ TOUR TAKES CHARLIE KIRK’S FREE SPEECH MISSION TO COLLEGES NATIONWIDE

Tomesh has experience in that realm from a past university position in Canada, where he said he was told by a university department head to believe whatever he wanted, but was also warned that there would be “consequences” for doing so.

Charlie Kirk throws hats to the crowd after arriving at Utah Valley University on September 10, 2025, in Orem, Utah. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)

“So yeah, I use the word ‘coming out’ because it is something that when you do say, ‘I’m a conservative on a college campus,’ there is a certain expectation that you may wind up encountering friction,” he said. “Either friction from your colleagues or friction from administration, or even you know, backlash from students.”

He described an ugly scene on campus after Kirk’s assassination, when a chalk memorial to the slain conservative leader was “defaced with some very disturbing things, including one of the things that were written on the bullet casing that took Charlie’s life…”

HOW UNIVERSITY INDOCTRINATION TURNED DEADLY, AND WHY ONE SCHOLAR SAYS IT’S ONLY GETTING WORSE

“And it can be very hostile, a very hostile environment,” Tomesh said. “I’ve had lots of parents and lots of students email me saying that they’re afraid to either go to college or to send their children to college because they’re afraid that their students are not going to have a fair shake at it because of their orthodoxy.”

Tomesh denounced popularized rhetoric used in the political discourse that likens conservatives to “Nazis” and “fascists,” which he said is meant to dehumanize people.

He stressed two critical points to address.

People raise placards reading “This is our Turning Point” during a memorial service for slain conservative commentator Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium, in Glendale, Arizona, U.S., September 21, 2025. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

UNIVERSITIES CRACK DOWN ON EMPLOYEE SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS CELEBRATING, DEFENDING KIRK’S DEATH

The first is that Americans, and especially students on college campuses, need to unlearn the idea that speech itself is violence. Secondly, he said Americans need to separate their political ideas from their identities, pointing out that when a political ideology becomes someone’s entire identity, any attack on that ideology becomes an attack on the person.

“And that’s one huge problem, I think, especially with the ideological progressives, is that they have taken an assumed identity, assumed ideas into part of their core identity,” he said. “And that is a very big mistake, because then any attack on an idea inevitably is interpreted as an attack on your personal identity and on you as a person.”

Finally, Tomesh offered a stark warning about the direction of the United States if people cannot learn to tolerate dissenting opinions.

“And if we can’t do those two things, we’re done. We’re toast,” he said. “Western culture is over. And it’s—I’m serious about that. It’s going to be a civil war if we cannot learn those two things.”

The school explained its decision not to make a statement on Kirk’s death in an email to Fox News Digital on Monday.

“UW-River Falls is committed to freedom of expression, viewpoint diversity, and respectful dialogue. We believe strongly in fostering a climate where all students and faculty feel supported and safe in expressing their perspective in a marketplace of ideas. These values are central to our mission and essential to the health of our democracy,” the school told Fox News Digital.

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“Political violence has no place in our society, and the murder of Charlie Kirk was horrific. Following this tragedy, our student affairs team reached out to student organizations to offer support,” the school continued.

“We understand that questions have been raised about not issuing a formal public response. UW–River Falls adheres to the recently enacted Institutional Statements Policy of the Universities of Wisconsin that took effect last June. This policy is rooted in the principle of institutional neutrality wherein such statements should be limited to matters ‘that directly affect the operations and core mission of the university and should maintain viewpoint neutrality in any reference to any matter.’”

Peter D’Abrosca is a reporter at Fox News Digital covering campus extremism in higher education.

Follow Peter on X at @pmd_reports. Send story tips to peter.dabrosca@fox.com.

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Illinois

Power drip: Electricity shortages coming to Illinois

Published

33 minutes ago

December 20, 2025

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Power drip: Electricity shortages coming to Illinois

A recent study published by three state agencies warns electricity shortages are coming to Illinois.

The shortages will start in PJM Interconnection’s regional transmission system by 2029, with the shortage hitting Illinois’ ComEd territory (which is within PJM) beginning in 2030, and then kicks in hard by 2032.

Capacity shortages in downstate Ameren’s territory are expected to begin in 2031 and escalate through 2035, when the stuff hits the fan. Ameren is in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator’s, or MISO’s, regional transmission network.

The report acknowledges that some fossil fuel power plants might have to remain open at least in the short-term, despite the state’s ambitious climate goals. A bill passed the legislature in October to facilitate that.

The Illinois Power Agency, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Commerce Commission conducted the study.

Massive increases in power needs by data centers are the “primary driver” of increased electricity demand, according to the report. Those gigantic increases were not foreseen when the state designed its landmark clean energy law in 2021 requiring net-zero carbon energy by 2045.

Coal and gas plants “are planned to retire across both [PJM and MISO] due to age, economics and emissions limits,” the new report points out, and that’s also contributing to the coming shortage.

Also problematic is the fact that new gas plant equipment takes 5-7 years to purchase and install, and the plants face additional siting and permitting barriers. Wind and solar face serious obstacles as well..

All that results in this warning from the three state agencies: “These conditions create a credible risk of regional capacity shortfalls that will impact Illinois’ future ability to import power during critical hours and may cause reliability issues in Illinois even if Illinois market zones have enough capacity to meet their [resource adequacy] requirements as determined by [PJM and MISO].”

Translation: Even if Illinois produces more power, we still might be in big trouble because other states are facing similar problems.

In the ComEd region alone, projected load growth “drives a 24% increase in resource adequacy requirements between 2025 and 2030, which contributes to growing dependence on external capacity even before the onset of an outright shortfall in 2032.”

However, the report claims, “The state can successfully navigate both near-term reliability risks and longer-term decarbonization goals through a diversified resource strategy.” That strategy includes “the continued use” of fossil fuel plants “even as their energy output declines with higher renewable penetration.”

Another study will be published in 2027. The report said that study will likely include increased renewables and battery storage but will also look at “delays and/or reductions” to emissions requirements allowed by the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act, which passed in October.

That’s cutting it awful close. Some business groups, including the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, want the state to act immediately to keep existing fossil fuel plants open.

Forty years ago, Illinois had some of the highest electric utility rates in the Midwest. Then, after the state deregulated the industry, our costs became far more competitive and the state used those low rates to lure new businesses.

But then abundant supply (encouraged by deregulation) pushed rates to a point where some nuclear power plant owners couldn’t afford to operate, so Illinois had to force consumers to subsidize the plants.

Then, with the gigantic data center and resulting artificial intelligence booms, along with aging plants going offline, electricity started becoming scarce again and rates have gone up.

Unilaterally cutting off data center expansion here won’t work because the state is part of those two large regional power distribution networks. They’ll just cross the state lines and continue consuming our juice.

Maybe the AI bubble will burst. But what is clear is that Illinois laws have to be flexible enough to deal with the unexpected, and that obviously hasn’t been the case

Yes, coal plants were closing anyway because they aren’t cost competitive. Same with some gas plants. But government operates so slowly that few have confidence it can turn the ship around in time to avert a coming shortage.

Everyone is pointing to the recently passed Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act as a possible solution because it gives the state more pollution control flexibility, but even that may not be adequate if there’s not enough will at the top to make extra sure we don’t enter a crisis stage.

The governor has expressed confidence that the state can handle this. But businesspeople are rightly freaking out.

Climate change is real. But if the lights don’t go on, or the local factories close, nobody will care about excuses. They’ll just want it fixed.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.

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Indiana

What to know about Indiana, Alabama football’s next CFP opponent

Published

39 minutes ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

What to know about Indiana, Alabama football’s next CFP opponent

Alabama football completed Step 1. The Crimson Tide beat Oklahoma 34-24 on Friday, earning its first College Football Playoff victory.

With the first round completed, UA has a tougher test ahead. No. 1 Indiana awaits in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal, on Jan. 1 in Pasadena. As Alabama celebrates its victory and begins to prepare, here’s what to know about the 13-0 Hoosiers.

The coach

To say that Curt Cignetti has done a good job at Indiana is perhaps college football’s largest understatement. Cignetti, who took over last season, has turned the Big Ten’s ultimate doormat into the nation’s top team.

Cignetti joined up from James Madison before the 2024 season. He immediately took a program that had grown stale under Tom Allen to the CFP, then turned around and did even better this year.

“I just know that winning lifts all boats,” Cignetti said after the playoff field was announced. “In terms of fan support in the stadium, donations, all parts of the university, downtown when you pack the stadium, bring a lot of people to Bloomington, it helps their sales. A lot of pride in Hoosier Nation. The largest alumni base in America, over 800,000 people. I’d say right now the arrow is pointing up. We probably got a lot of momentum going in those kind of areas.”

Cignetti has a connection to Alabama as well. He worked as the Crimson Tide’s wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator under Nick Saban from 2007 through 2011, helping set the groundwork for Saban’s dynasty in Tuscaloosa.

In addition to Indiana in James Madison, he was a head coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Elon after leaving the Tide.

The quarterback

For the first time in program history, Indiana has a Heisman Trophy winner. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza beat out a group of finalists that included Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia, Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin.

Mendoza has thrown for 2,980 yards this season, with 33 touchdowns and six interceptions. He has completed 226 of his 316 passes so far.

“Our focus right now is winning the College Football Playoff,” Mendoza told reporters Monday in Bloomington. “That’s what would make this trophy so much sweeter. I believe this trophy is a little bit of a push of confidence on us, on the team, that we’re making history for the IU team in history to be 13-0 and also to bring home a Heisman Trophy to Bloomington.”

The junior, who hails from Florida, transferred into Indiana from Cal this year. He spent two seasons in Berkeley before joining the Hoosiers.

The season

Indiana was the losingest program in the Football Bowl Subdivision entering this season. Some predicted it would be a step back for the Hoosiers, who lost several key players from last season’s playoff team.

Instead, IU won its first Big Ten title since 1967. It enters the CFP undefeated.

“I think that if we hooked everybody up in this room on a lie detector test and told them, hey, do you think Fernando Mendoza is going to win the Heisman this year and we’re going to be 13-0, Big Ten champs, the team has a lot of self-belief and unwavering belief, but I think it’s tough to make those predictions,” Mendoza said Monday.

To cap off the season, Indiana, which had faced criticism for its strength of schedule throughout the year, pulled off a huge upset in Indianapolis. The Hoosiers beat then No. 1 Ohio State, earning the top seed in the CFP and a spot in the Rose Bowl.

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Iowa

Iowa City West sweeps City High in a pair of close contests

Published

45 minutes ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Iowa City West sweeps City High in a pair of close contests

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Grace Fincham led the West High girls to a second-half comeback in a 60-51 win over City High, giving the Trojans a win on their rival’s home floor.

The Trojans improve to 6-2 with the win. The Little Hawks drop to 6-2.

In the boys’ nightcap, the Little Hawks’ comeback attempt fell short, as the Trojans held on for a 53-51 win.

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