With its refusal to reopen the “Virtual Jihadi” exhibit, Rensselaer’s administration has trampled the First Amendment into the mud.

Freedom of speech and freedom of the press do not encompass what the administration feels is right or good, it encompasses all ideas. Ideas are not actions; they are not inherently dangerous. Only when they are suppressed and made taboo do they become fodder for extremists and for those lured by the forbidden.

Ideas need the free and open flow of discussion and commentary in order to prove their worth or lack thereof. For more than two centuries, America has abided by this ideal—it is our country’s currency of thought, and its value is immeasurable.

Why should any American institution of higher learning suppress ideas? Doesn’t this make us more like those we call terrorists, suppressing that which we don’t want to hear?

Students at Rensselaer are intelligent, inquisitive, and can be trusted to argue the pros and cons of the “Virtual Jihadi” exhibit and make their own judgments. In this area, they do not need the administration to stand in loco parentis. These are skills students at Rensselaer—and any college or university—must learn in order to participate fully in society. Stop preventing them from honing their own judgment.

Rensselaer’s administration should reopen the “Virtual Jihadi” exhibit immediately and apologize to the artist for taking away a constitutional right.

Laurie Creasy