A display at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. harbors a quote from Heinrich Heine, “Where books are burned, in the end people will be burned.” The act to which Heine is referring is the act of censorship.

To me, few crimes are greater than that of censorship. A censor, according to dictionary.com, is one who “examine[s] books, plays, news reports, motion pictures, radio and television programs, letters, cablegrams, etc. for the purpose of suppressing parts deemed objectionable on moral, political, military or other grounds.” In short, censorship is taking expression away from people, or silencing them and stifling their creativity. It is a means of control through the elimination of ideas and the promotion of ignorance.

Our campus was recently the site of an incident to which many are referring as censorship: various knives in the laps of teddy bears were removed by the campus police for safety reasons.

I find the objections to be a ridiculous overreaction on the part of well-meaning art lovers. Those who dissembled the artwork have clearly stated that their intent was never censorship. They were not objecting to the artwork itself, only adhering to the basic rules of common sense that suggest that having unsecured weaponry in a public place may not be the safest, smartest idea. Even the chair of the art department agrees with this. Nobody walked through and said, “You know what? Knives aren’t art!” Nobody said, “I don’t like the idea that this is portraying. I don’t want it displayed.” That is censorship, and that is not what took place on our campus.

I know many people say that it’s unlikely that the knives would have been used as weapons. But look around. Every time something tragic happens at some public place, it’s partly because basic safety measures were not taken into consideration. Everyone assumes they are safe-until something horrible occurs. Then everyone is shocked, confused, and outraged. Public places, schools in particular, have an obligation to use common sense and basic preventive measures to keep safe. Having the ability to sort out serious injustices like censorship from mere common sense is a skill that everyone must develop.