Watch a Campus Police Officer Say Offending Students 'Is Against the Law'

Free speech under siege at the University of Texas at Austin.

Has this campus security officer ever heard of the First Amendment? A University of Texas at Austin cop issued a disorderly conduct citation to a preacher because his words were offensive to some students.

"You're offending students on the campus," said the officer. "The job here is write you up for disorderly conduct for offending someone."

The preacher, according to The Daily Caller, had been inveighing against anal sex from his perch just outside the boundaries of UT's campus. Students who heard him complained to the cops.

When the preacher asked about his freedom of speech rights, the cop responded: "It doesn't matter, freedom of speech. Someone was offended. That's against the law."

The preacher could scarcely believe what he was hearing. "It's against the law to offend someone?" he asked.

"Yes," the cop repeated.

The officer, it goes without saying, was wrong. Thankfully, his department eventually corrected him and voided the citation. It also issued an apology to the preacher. Still, it's troubling that an officer of the law could be so mixed up about it.

It's also troubling that students thought the best way to deal with an offensive speaker was to sic the cops on him.