“Her whole rhetoric is around the belief that women would not be assaulted if they carry firearms and that message is divisive and I think she was brought here to divide campus,” Kerwin said.

University officials in the past have denounced so-called “campus carry” bills that would have taken away administrators' right to prevent weapons from being carried in to campus buildings and allow permit-less concealed carry.

Conservative commentator and author Pavlich, an Arizona native, told the crowd that her grandparents met at UW-Madison and that she still has relatives in Wisconsin who are dairy farmers.

Pavlich was brought to campus by the student organization Young Americans for Freedom, with the support of the national conservative Young Americas Foundation, which bankrolls college campus appearances from its stable of conservative speakers.

YAF guest speaker Ben Shapiro was drowned out briefly by protesters at UW-Madison last November, an event referenced frequenly as the Assembly passed a bill in June calling for mandatory expulsion of students who repeatedly disrupt campus speeches. While the state Senate never acted on the bill, the UW Board of Regents on Friday adopted a policy mirroring the content of the Republican bill.