When most students look at Iowa State, they figure the First Amendment is well and good and free speech is welcome all over.

But in reality, the ISU campus is not open to free speech everywhere. There are certain locations on campus labeled as “free speech zones” by the college where students and the community must confine their voices.

The reasons for these free speech zones are easy to understand and by all immediate evaluation are in place to help students. The zones make it more convenient for students’ messages to be heard, as well as promoting diversity and active learning environments.

Allowing students to continue their lives unmolested by angry political protests or having to listen to disparaging comments about something important to a student thrown about in their busy day is certainly a helpful idea from the university.

But hold the phone there folks, even if people don’t want to hear those things, that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t be able to express those ideas. The Constitution isn’t set up to stop unwanted speech from happening because some people simply don’t want to hear it.

The catch to all this is, Iowa State doesn’t want you parading around campus possibly prohibiting movement of students to classes and activities because your message could be distracting. And stopping violent protest or events where groups are inciting violence are absolutely fine to stop; the Supreme Court has made certain of clarifications to free speech involving “fighting words” and violence in their rulings.

But the college, based on the actions they have taken against peaceful protests and the underlying context of their rules, doesn’t seem to think speech should be entirely free on the university.

The university can set the rules for time, manner and place for free speech. The university wants to ensure that the other events and activities are not hindered by protests. Such as in 2009 when a group of students and community members tried to protest by the fountain at the Memorial Union. The university broke up the group, threatened police action and the group moved to a free speech zone.

In the university’s defense, the group could have applied for permission to protest in a non-free speech zone and their request could have been evaluated by the Event Authorization Committee.

But really? A committee is going to evaluate requests? Why does a committee need to evaluate the protest areas and times. There are numerous Supreme Court rulings to use for a system of evaluation for if an area should be protest-free or if a protest needs to be ended.

Why does a committee need to look at these situations if their rulings are going to be fair? It seems more as if Iowa State does not want prospective students, their parents or Alumni to be bothered with the protests of a group, based on its prohibiting a group from protesting peacefully outside the Memorial Union.

Know your rights, and ask yourself why the university feels the need to restrict free speech. Question the powers that be, and challenge their answers. Don’t settle for simple statements, find the rationale and evaluate it for yourself. Use your voice.