Campus cop orders students to scribble over penis on a "free speech ball"

A University of Delaware police officer forced a student to scribble over a drawing of a penis inscribed on a gigantic "free speech" beach ball because it doesn't "open up a conversation." He went on to lecture the students who had the ball on display about what kinds of free speech he would tolerate.

A campus police officer should never ask students to self-censor their constitutionally protected speech, said FIRE's Marieke Tuthill Beck-Coon in a statement. As a public university, UD must abide by the First Amendment, which has very few exceptionsand subjectively offensive words or images are not one of them.

The officer's insistence that he had a duty to be the speech police was quite remarkable.

"If I were to write, 'I think Donald Trump should be the next president, I think that's something we could have a discussion about," he said. "Drawing a penis, or a swastika, or putting the n-word on there, what does that do?"

The YAL student responded that the two of themthe officer, and the studentwere having a discussion about it at that very moment.

"I don't know that it really opens up a conversation," said the officer, disagreeing. "I just think it's meant to provoke."

Here's the thing, officer: the police are not in charge of deciding which kind of speech "opens up a conversation" and which kind is just "meant to provoke." Nor is there anything illegal about provocative speech. Sometimes speech should offend.

Hit and Run: U. of Delaware Students Drew a Penis on a Free Speech Ball. Cops Made Them Censor It.