Talk about killing the messenger!

We reported that 13  students at DePaul, the nation’s largest Catholic  University, were identified as vandalizing a pro-life display.  Eric Owens of The Daily Caller has a chilling update to the news, reporting that the student who triggered the initial investigation is being punished.

Senior Kristopher Del Campo, who chairs the DePaul YAF [Young Americans for Freedom] chapter, contacted public safety officials after pro-abortion thugs tore the flags from the ground and threw them in trash cans around campus.

…Take a wild guess which student the nation’s largest Catholic school has now singled out for punishment.Naturally, the student was Del Campo.

DePaul managed to find the Del Campo guilty of multiple violations of the Vincentian institution’s code of student responsibility. One of the charges brands the publication of the names as “disorderly, violent, intimidating or dangerous.” Another charge somehow related to “judicial process compliance.”

The senior is now for on probation for publicizing the names of fellow students who admitted to vandalizing his organization’s pro-life display. He must also write something called a reflection letter.

However, help is on its way!

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has intervened on behalf of Del Campo.

In a February 21 letter to DePaul’s President, Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, FIRE argued that Del Campo had the right to publicly identify the students who had admitted to vandalizing his group’s display. The letter further suggested that DePaul had violated Del Campo’s rights by charging him and then punishing him for speaking up about his own case.

“Students who purposefully vandalize the works of other students,” FIRE wrote, “should not expect to be shielded from the public consequences of their actions.”

“Kristopher Del Campo’s group was the victim of a politically motivated crime, and yet DePaul University is punishing Del Campo for naming the people who committed the crime,” said Robert Shibley, senior vice president at FIRE.

“Punishing a student for naming those who committed a crime against him or her sets a very dangerous precedent,” Shibley added. “For example, would DePaul punish a female student for telling her friends to avoid a person who admitted to sexually assaulting her?”

Holtschneider’s response to FIRE’s letter, if any, is unknown.

It is unclear if the 13 students who vandalized the anti-abortion display have faced or will ever face any sort of punishment.