By the time the president of the University of Illinois caved Monday afternoon, it was too late.

Protests had already sparked across campus and scourging letters from professor unions and free speech coalitions piled high on his desk.

It started two weeks ago with an e-mail informing staff of an Illinois law preventing state employees from campaigning with state resources. In effect, the university ethics office reasoned, faculty could not wear partisan political buttons, display bumper stickers on parked cars or attend political rallies on university grounds.

While furious professors blogged about infringements on their speech and assembly rights, graduate students staged pro-Obama demonstrations in outright defiance and the campus paper churned out strong editorials against the policy, administrators tried to calm the campus.

It was simply trying to communicate state law, spokesperson after spokesperson told the media, but had no real intention of punishing political activism so long as it occurred outside the classroom.

But the faculty didn't back down.

Finally, the public repudiation many were looking arrived in their e-mail inbox: "We, the leadership of the University of Illinois, will preserve, protect and defend the constitutionally guaranteed rights of every member of our university community," the president wrote Monday. Some activities banned under his earlier interpretation, he wrote, "conflict, or appear to conflict, with fundamental freedoms."

In hindsight, it appears that what happened in Illinois was an overzealous misinterpretation of a law that no one planned on enforcing. Still, it offended a faculty that doesn't take threats to its First Amendment rights -- real or perceived -- lightly.

Though I doubt many professors truly feared their jobs were in jeopardy because of a campaign button, most wanted to make it clear that the role of an academic is not the same as a DMV employee, even if both positions are funded by taxpayers.

If the University of Illinois is on the one end of the political participation spectrum, Liberty University, an evangelical Christian college in Virginia, is on the other.

This past month, Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr., an outspoken supporter of Sen. John McCain, led a forceful drive to get the entire Liberty student population registered as local voters. Presumably, Falwell wants to use the conservative student body to help swing the battleground state red.

He also cancelled classes on Election Day and is bussing students to the polls.

Shouldn't the role of a higher education institution lie somewhere in between these two extremes? Can't universities permit partisan expression but stop short of endorsing a candidate?

Thankfully, Penn State seems to be standing on middle ground.

"Penn State does not have button police," university spokesman Bill Mahon said. "Some places carry these ideas a little too far so they stop making any sense at all."

Mahon said the university encourages both faculty and student interest in the presidential election. All are free to attend the Grateful Dead concert for Sen. Barack Obama next week at the Bryce Jordan Center as well as a GOP rally held on the HUB lawn.

"The main line in the sand is that employees can't do that on university time," he said.

There's no harm in reminding professors not to abuse their position during a highly contentious election season. And yes, when political discussions enter the classroom, the rights of students and professors become a bit more complicated.

But this was never about academic freedom inside the classroom. This is about freedom of participation in the political process -- the foundation of our democracy.

"The purpose was to say, 'Keep these provisions in mind, exercise common sense, and everything will be fine," the University of Illinois president explained to a Chicago Tribune reporter in the midst of the controversy.

The administration should have followed its own advice to use common sense. It's never a good idea to threaten the civil liberties of your employees.

Alyssa Owens is a senior majoring in journalism and political science and is The Daily Collegian's Thursday columnist. Her e-mail address is alo5014@psu.edu.