“We’re better off in higher institutions respecting people’s right of free speech.”

Amen, you say.

And who gave us this sweet, chewy nugget of First Amendment goodness?

No, it wasn’t a member of The September 29th Movement. It wasn’t fiery Iowa State political science prof Steffen Schmidt. And it wasn’t a GSB senator.

In fact, the person who made this statement was that proponent of First Amendment rights, Paul Tanaka of ISU Legal Services. He was explaining why the university chose not to repress bomb recipes and porno links on ISU student Justin Everman’s Web site.

Remember, Tanaka is the same guy who, while defending censorship via the door policy, said: “Not all speech is protected … To the extent that the university is trying to control that kind of speech, [the policy] is permissible.”

Hmm.

You can’t have it both ways, Mr. Tanaka. Don’t try to clothe yourself in the rich tradition of the First Amendment when you’d rather have us not speak at all.

Tanaka is hardly the only university official to go wishy-washy on student speech.

“Students have First Amendment rights to put things up on the doors,” said IRHA advisor Pat Robinson in November 1997, “but they also have a responsibility when they live in a community to decide what’s best for the community, and sometimes exercising your rights isn’t good for the community.”

There are other examples, including the requirement of a permit to protest and the establishment of “free speech zones” for GSB campaigns.

And you’ll remember how zealously ISU pursued those students who chose to “speak” by using the Cy logo. Maybe the administration was feeling the impact on their “speaker” — the almighty dollar.

Don’t worry, though. Student speech is alive and well on Everman’s site … or not.

One day after he said, “I just believe in free information,” he had removed the recipes and links. “I never meant to cause a ruckus or harm anybody,” Everman said penitently. “This stuff doesn’t do me any good.”

So that’s what happens to those who take risks and speak up — they decide it doesn’t do them “any good” to exercise their constitutional rights.

That’s exactly the kind of education we don’t need, but that’s what we’re being spoonfed here at Iowa State.