De Paul University, Chicago, has mismanaged itself into an untenable situation.

Kristopher Del Campo, chairman of the Young Americans for Freedom was found “guilty” of “Disorderly, Violent, Intimidating or Dangerous Behavior to Self or Others” and “Judicial Process Compliance.”  This conclusion was reached at a De Paul University tribunal which did not allow Del Campo to have counsel.

That charge sounds so horrible!

What he actually  did, was release the names of vandals who admitted to destroying a pro-life display that his group had put up on campus with permission of the University.  His organization posted a copy of the university’s incident report online, just like THIS. <—- Click it!

We have not heard that the vandals will be expelled for their “Disorderly, Violent, Intimidating or Dangerous Behavior to Self or Others”, but that’s what is likely to happen to Mr. Del Campo, 13 weeks before he was to graduate.

So…… for giving out information which would have been public record in any other locality, Del Campo appears to have wasted six figures of tuition dollars to attend this  university, which punishes the victims rather than the criminals.

Pharmer advises you not to similarly waste your yearly $32,000 tuition/fees, and $6,500-$11,000 room and board to attend this institution.  You might wind up being flushed out of the university for doing what  journalists and bloggers do routinely: pasting reports of crimes online.  We’ve all grown up with the first amendment, and have expected freedom of speech.  At the nominally Catholic De Paul University, it’s considered a  crime to report a criminal act.

Frequently, private or ivy league colleges find themselves to be serving as the babysitters of spoiled, or sometimes mentally ill, children of wealthy individuals, or diplomats.  These institutions  attempt to keep the misdeeds of their wards hushed up as a service to the parents, who might return the favor with contributions to the institution well in excess of the tuition dollars.

This might have been the intention of De Paul University to protect the reputations of their benefactors and  their income stream.

With the internet, and cameras everywhere, it is much more difficult to keep a lid on such things.  The administrators of De Paul as well as their benefactors, need to understand that criminal activities cannot be expected to be shrouded in secret anymore, and that they cannot guarantee such complete protection to some of these “children” they are babysitting.

The situation of De Paul University, which finds itself punishing the victims instead of the criminals, results from a failure to connect with today’s reality, and it is likely to hurt their income stream more than the loss of the  13 spoiled brats involved in the vandalism.