Representatives from the Student Action Branch of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property returned to Northwestern for the third consecutive year Thursday to protest socialism near The Arch.
TFP is a Catholic, American advocacy group within the Tradition, Family and Property movement. The group’s Student Action Branch protested what it called “LGBT ideology” in front of The Arch in April 2025 and gender-affirming care for transgender children in April 2024.
The demonstrators Thursday wore suits and red sashes with the group’s emblem while handing out flyers titled “10 Reasons to Reject Socialism” to passersby.
Some group members played instruments and chanted mantras such as “What does socialism give the poor? Equal poverty and equal misery,” and “All the martyrs of communism, pray for us.”
Organizer Evan Olwell led chants and played the bagpipes amid sporadic honking from passing vehicles. Several tour groups also walked through The Arch during the demonstration.
“We also see the great suffering that’s been endured by people in socialist countries such as Venezuela and Cuba, and we don’t want that suffering or that misery to take hold of the U.S.,” Olwell said.
Rev. Julie Windsor Mitchell, campus minister at University Christian Ministry at NU, said she spoke to some demonstrators for about 10 minutes. She said one demonstrator told her he was 14 years old.
Windsor Mitchell noticed the demonstration from her office located across the street from The Arch and said she approached the group because she was “genuinely curious about them.” But she said she was met with “defensiveness and not openness.”
“I don’t agree with the anti-trans rhetoric that they were using,” Windsor Mitchell said. “I think it’s really harmful to people who are trans, and I don’t believe that churches should represent that.”
Olwell said the group tours Midwest universities around Easter every year, protesting what he called “hot button issues,” including abortion and transgender rights.
Demonstrator Mark Slobodnik said TFP protested socialism at Thursday’s demonstration to vary the issues the group advocates for.
“You can’t just fight against one evil,” Slobodnik said. “You’ve got to fight against all of them.”
As he passed the demonstrators, Communication first-year Zachary Guo asked them whether they were students at the University.
When the group confirmed their lack of affiliation, Guo responded by saying they were “clearly not smart enough” to attend before walking through The Arch.
“I should have been nicer about it,” Guo said. “I think you can have different perspectives on our economic system, but choosing to protest an economic system that is not the problem right now is an interesting choice.”
Like Windsor Mitchell, Weinberg first-year Aleksandra Vaca spoke with some of the demonstrators. She said she asked them about the content of the distributed flyers.
“Very disappointing to see them come up here to a place where they’re not from and try to spread hate,” Vaca said. “They bring their bagpipes, and they’re just very loud and that kind of stuff doesn’t belong here.”
Sociology Prof. David Schieber passed the demonstration shortly after it began in the morning.
Schieber expressed concern over the demonstrators’ young ages.
“To some extent, I pity them,” Schieber said. “I feel sorry for who put them in this position.”
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Bluesky: @lucaskubovchik.bsky.social
