This is the stuff history is made of.

What you have is the kind of activism that I thought was dead, the kind of issues that I thought could only be drummed up by large-scale national conflict.

What you have is this:

Popular and respected minority student leaders say they’re being unfairly singled out and silenced by Iowa State administrators for talking about the “tough” issues. University officials say they are simply following procedure in running the students through the campus courts for alleged misconduct violations that stem from an unauthorized protest in November.

The students say they were told at worst they would receive a written reprimand for participating in the protest. University officials say that’s not stiff enough.

The students say it would be different if the issues were different, more mundane, less controversial. University officials say they’re committed to open discussion.

The students say the university officials are only committed to discussion on their turf. University officials say that’s not true.

The students say they’re ignored unless they’re drastic. University officials say the students have brought it on themselves.

The students say it comes down to race, to Catt Hall, to injustice. University officials say diversity is priority No. 1.

The students say the university is hiding behind closed doors and justice in the dark. University officials say their judicial system has remained impartial.

The students say they’ve played by the rules and are being punished in spite of it. University officials say they have no choice.

The students say foul.

The university says fair.

The students cry.

The university says it’s sorry.

I say there are ramifications that will be felt far longer than the now, far wider than Ames, Iowa.

I say, in some ways, the college world again needed these kinds of debates.

And still I say the truth — indeed the justice — lies somewhere in the middle.

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Chris Miller is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Marshalltown. He is editor in chief of the Daily.