Censorship is a dangerous thing.

And thanks to the U.S. Court of Appeals, it just got easier.

The Sixth Circuit, which encompasses Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky, released a decision Wednesday upholding censorship of campus media by public universities.

In the case Kincaid v. Gibson, officials at Kentucky State University in Frankfort, Ken., confiscated 2,000 copies of the campus yearbook.

According to the court’s decision, administrators didn’t censor the yearbook because it was vulgar or unnecessarily offensive.

They censored it because its cover was purple, instead of the school’s colors.

Thankfully for journalists, courts have consistently ruled that college newspapers and yearbooks can enjoy the same First Amendment rights that any other publications can. This is what makes the decision so unnerving — what sort of precedent will this set?

If students want to question their universities, or the tactics of their university administrators, what forum will they have if college media is taken away?

Newspapers, yearbooks and other publications are the ultimate public forum. Students need these outlets to vent their frustrations.

“When school officials are allowed to use student media as a public relations tool, it ceases to exist as a credible source for teaching students about journalism,” said Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center.

What Goodman said is absolutely true, which makes the U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision so baffling. What was the court trying to accomplish in silencing Kentucky State University students’ voices?

The media, especially the student media, are not perfect.

There may be errors and problems with stories, and certain issues may be misrepresented.

But these mistakes are a small price to pay for what the student media gives back — namely, a venue for students to communicate

The student media are also crucial in letting students know about the world around them. A busy student may not get an opportunity to pick up another local newspaper or view CNN.

This is not a light matter, just a question of a Kentucky student getting a yearbook for Johnny Quarterback to sign. This is a question of freedom.

The students will most definitely appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, and their plight deserves more care and attention than the U.S. Court of Appeals gave it.

Hopefully the U.S. Supreme Court will have the sense to keep students’ rights in mind when it hands down its decision.