Alice Mathias, a graduate student at the University of Southern California film school, has an op-ed in today’s Times about balancing freedom with safety in light of today’s one-year university of the Virginia Tech massacre.

“Since the shootings at Virginia Tech a year ago, our school has made it as difficult as possible for students to put guns in their films.”

“One of my classmates avoided the permitting process by replacing a gun in his script with a banana …”

I understand the need for heightened security and proactive precautionary measures, but is putting restrictions on students’ creative work really making them safer? 

Not to disparage media’s ability to influence and even encourage violent behavior, but shouldn’t students maintain the creative freedom that is supposedly enshrined to them upon entering colleges and universities?

Mathias notes the complexity of the issue and seems ambivalent herself:

“Freedom and safety are becoming increasingly difficult to balance, it’s plain to see.”

How far should safety precautions go? And should they extend into students’ projects of expression?