Delaware State University, Fox News and the snowball story heard 'round the world

Scott Goss | The News Journal

Show Caption Hide Caption News Journal Archives: UD students have massive snowball fight Students at University of Delaware enjoyed a snowball fight. Originally aired 2/11/10

It might be the dog days of summer but Delaware State University's longstanding anti-snowball policy is suddenly a hot topic at Fox News.

The conservative cable news network's afternoon program "The Five" lampooned DSU on Wednesday over what it implied is a new policy at Dover's historically black university.

"Isn't it ironic that the people banning snowballs are snowflakes," co-host Jesse Watters asked — a one-liner cheered by guest Pam Bondi, the attorney general of Florida.

"I have not had that much experience with snowballs," Bondi said. "But as a prosecutor we can only go so far. We're taking the fun out of everything. We're going over the top."

The sudden attention came as a something of a surprise to DSU, which first added the policy to its student code of conduct nearly 20 years ago, according to university spokesman Carlos Holmes.

"I never even knew we had a snowball policy until all this started coming up," he said. "We believe it was put in place for safety reasons. I'm sure it was based on something that happened but no one can recall what that was."

Today, the same policy now appears in the 42-page Student Judicial Handbook — which dates back to 2006. It lists "the throwing of snowballs on University grounds" as one of 16 personal violations.

The handbook also includes prohibitions on bad behavior such as fighting and harassment, while barring the wearing of masks "except for authorized functions or inclement weather" and the possession of water guns on university property.

Holmes said DSU has no record of any student ever being cited for violating the rules pertaining to snowballs, masks or water guns.

"We don't have snowball police or water gun police," he said. "None of these things violate our desire for students to be safe. So if there is no reason to take them out, we don't take them out."

Despite the anti-snowball policy's long history, coverage of the rule has been picking up steam in recent days among conservative-leaning news outlets and blogs.

"The endless quest for 'safe spaces' on campus hits a ridiculous new low," states an Aug. 21 article on The National Review's website that suggests the policy was unveiled in a recent announcement. "Taking away the relief of a snowball or water-gun fight is wrong and un-American — and Delaware State University should be ashamed of itself."

The magazine claims the story was first reported by Fox 6 — a local television station in Milwaukee. Fox 6's Aug. 19 story, in turn, attributes the report to the Fox News Wire Service, an in-house syndication service for 21st Century Fox-owned News Corp.

But the real source of the recent outrage appears to be Maria Lencki, a sophomore at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio who penned an Aug. 17 article about the DSU student handbook for The College Fix, a right-leaning website whose board includes the son of U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Lencki previously wrote a similar story for the website about a policy at the University of West Alabama that prohibits students from sending "harsh text messages." She declined to comment through her editor Daniel Payne.

"We often peruse universities' websites for story ideas and interesting topics on which our student writers can report," Payne said via email. "The policy is newsworthy because it speaks to a pervasive trend on college campuses to protect students from any and all harm, even from innocuous and silly things like snowball throwing, and even though the college students themselves are adults."

Lencki's article about DSU never states that the snowball policy is new. But it does conflate DSU with the University of Delaware — an error repeated by "The Five" co-host Juan Williams, who defended the school.

"In this era of liability, if you're in charge of the school, you say, 'Hey don't do it," he said. "[But] do I think if snow falls at the University of Delaware people aren't going to have a snowball fight? No."

A spokeswoman for UD said she received a call from The College Fix last week asking for information about the university's snowball policy. UD does not specifically ban the throwing of snowballs on university grounds, she said.

Neither do Wesley College or Delaware Technical Community College.

But officials at all three schools pointed to other policies that would come into play if a student is injured by a snowball, such as prohibitions on disruptive activity or disorderly conduct.

"Just because we don't have a policy that specifically mentions snowballs doesn't mean someone won't get in trouble for throwing one," said Brian Shirey, general counsel at DelTech.

Although Holmes said the recent attention over DSU's student conduct policy is unexpected, he is not surprised the story is garnering national news coverage.

"That's the way the media works sometimes," he said. "I'm sure Fox News needs a break from all the Trump pieces out there and that's all this is."

Contact reporter Scott Goss at (302) 324-2281, sgoss@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @ScottGossDel.

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