That gosh darn freedom of speech thing has gotten in the way again.

As part of a senior art class requirement, NIU art student Jonathon Adkins had to put together an exhibit containing several works. Upon completion, his artwork was approved to be displayed in the public lounge of the Holmes Student Center. Then came the controversy.

Some of Adkins artwork contained phallic images and sexual innuendos, and student center executives received several complaints about displaying the works in public.

SC Director Judd Baker decided that something must be done to protect those who did not want to view the art. After talking it over with the Campus Activities Board Visual Arts Committee, which oversees student art shows at the student center, it was decided that the best thing to do would be to put screens a few feet in front of the art work so that people just passing by “won’t notice it.” Well, it seems like all sorts of people who payed no attention to the artwork before are noticing it now.

The whole point of showing the art in the first place is so that people can view someone’s form of expression—a right. Baker and CAB say the screens are there because they did not want to censor the artist. Aren’t the screens themselves tools of censorship?

Perhaps the whole controversy could have been avoided. If it was judged that the art might be controversial, it could have been displayed in the student center gallery, where it could still be viewed but would not be seen by just any passerby uninterested in art.