University of Dayton retracts free speech promise, ignores police retaliation

Not long ago, students at the University of Dayton in Ohio enjoyed “the full expression of their thoughts, positions, and opinions on all contemporary and intellectual issues.”

No longer.

FIRE wrote UD on Aug. 14, after school police officers subjected students to interrogation in direct retaliation for the students’ criticism of police. Criticizing police is, of course, protected by the First Amendment. And when UD police officers engage in law enforcement, the First Amendment restricts their actions just like any other law enforcement official. What’s more, at the time of the incident, UD maintained clear speech promises—freely available to read on its website—that prohibited it from imposing punishment for protected speech. 

But rather than engage substantively with FIRE’s concerns, UD repudiated its commitment to free speech, saying it was an outdated policy. Why was it on the website, then? A “clerical error.” No wonder UD police showed such flagrant disregard for the First Amendment. 

On Sept. 2, 2023, students in a house just off campus saw UD officers on their block filling out post–arrest paperwork and started shouting at the officers from their window with (admittedly crude) criticisms of the police. Rather than continue their work, two of the officers walked up to the house, knocked on the students’ door, and demanded the students in the house produce their identification, saying they would refer them for university discipline for “interference.”

That criticizing law enforcement is squarely protected by the First Amendment did not matter to the officers. Nor did courts’ holdings that officers must have thicker skin than the average citizen. The students yelling had committed no visible crime, and the officers never should have knocked on that door.

FIRE hopes UD will realize that it would be better off embracing a real respect for the open expression of ideas on campus and forgo turning the campus police into the honest-to-goodness speech police.

Unfortunately, the situation devolved from there, with one student pushing an officer. It should go without saying that assault is not protected by the First Amendment. Indeed, speech cannot be free if people must fear violent responses for what they say. That’s why FIRE has always encouraged universities to enforce policies that forbid actual violence. But the entire encounter never should have happened at all. First Amendment and free speech principles leave no room for police to originate a confrontation with students over wholly protected expression. 

In its response to our letter, UD refused to acknowledge FIRE’s concerns about the officers’ blatant retaliation and ignored that the First Amendment applies to all police officers acting under color of state law, even at private institutions. Worse yet, UD claimed that it had, at some unspecified prior point, revoked its “Freedom of Expression Policy,” which promised to uphold freedom of expression “as a primary support for the education of its students.” The university explained that this supposedly outdated policy was left online due to a “clerical error.”

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Was this clerical error just a little too convenient to be true? If one goes to UD’s website today, you will find a very different “Freedom of Expression” policy. Its effective date is given as August 7, 2024, nearly a year after the incident in question. You be the judge.

UD currently ranks 192 out of 251 schools in FIRE’s 2025 Free Speech Rankings. Considering its officials are prone to dubious declarations that its commitment to fundamental rights are a “clerical error,” such a low performance is hardly surprising.

FIRE hopes UD will realize that it would be better off embracing a real respect for the open expression of ideas on campus and forgo turning the campus police into the honest-to-goodness speech police. Until then, its students should beware.

FIRE defends the rights of students and faculty members — no matter their views — at public and private universities and colleges in the United States. If you are a student or a faculty member facing investigation or punishment for your speech, submit your case to FIRE today. If you’re a faculty member at a public college or university, call the Faculty Legal Defense Fund 24-hour hotline at 254-500-FLDF (3533). If you’re a college journalist facing censorship or a media law question, call the Student Press Freedom Initiative 24-hour hotline at 717-734-SPFI (7734).