From a very young age, we are taught that there is a time and a place for everything.

Most of us have enough sense to know that it is respectful to be polite toward guests, it is rude to interrupt and it is embarrassing to others when you make a public scene.

Last Saturday, the ISU Foundation hosted the Order of the Knoll, a special occasion designed to thank alumni for their financial contributions to the university.

It looked like it would be a rather exquisite event, considering that the large tents on central campus took a good week to put up.

The festivities for the dinner included fireworks, music and a few protesters.

Students Randall Duval, Kyle Pierce and Jumoke Hodari took that evening’s events as an opportunity to protest in response to their friend, Allan Nosworthy, after he was admitted to Mary Greeley Medical Center as a result of his hunger strike.

The three gathered by the entrance of the main tent.

Hodari reportedly shouted at alumni as they walked into the event.

“You’re donating your money to a hate-filled school,” she said.

The students said they wouldn’t leave until they received a letter from ISU President Martin Jischke. Afterward, they got their letter from Thomas Hill, vice president for student affairs.

However, the point is that they showed little respect for the alumni and the occasion, and succeeded to embarrass the administration.

If they don’t already, the students should also feel embarrassed about their behavior.

The event should not have been used as an occasion to protest. Ironically, they were shouting at people whose money indirectly goes to some of the programs the students support.

Nosworthy and his friends in the September 29th Movement have already caught the attention of administrators, students and the media many times over the past few weeks.

This is regardless of how the response has been from all of them.

The September 29th Movement has been very vocal in their attempts to negotiate with the university, and they should be commended for their actions. They should continue to be vocal and garner support for their views.

However, there is a line to be drawn when one is protesting or campaigning for a cause.

The Movement has normally been very organized about how they go about expressing their concerns.

Therefore, the disruption of the alumni event could be considered a slip considering there are many other drastic actions the students could have taken that would be embarrassing.

Generally speaking, though, there is no need for any group to protest into every single tiny aspect within the university. Anyone who does that has too much time on their hands.

However, actions that disrupt an event are nothing new.

Bombs and threats of bombs are examples of this. Such drastic, unexpected events tend to cast a shadow and leave bad impressions on those in attendance.

A recent example of this was a bomb threat at an abortion clinic in Little Rock, Ark. Word of the threat spread when President Clinton went to honor the integration of the first nine black students at a local high school 40 years ago.

Clinton came solely to Little Rock to honor the nine men and women, not to change his mind on abortion. He is also pro-choice.

However, holding a bomb threat at the clinic didn’t and wouldn’t have changed anything for him. However, the threat nearly diverted attention from the school’s celebration.

It is good that people, such as the three students, were confident enough to openly express their views.

However, it is wrong for people to express themselves without considering the environment in which they do it.

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Shuva Rahim is a senior in journalism and mass communication and sociology from Davenport.