The Iowa Supreme Court’s decision to ban gay marriage came as a surprise to the entire nation. Newspapers across the state were left scrambling to cover the decision after it was announced on Friday.

As a campus in the middle of the state and only 15 miles away from where the decision occurred, we were left with no way to let students know of the decision due to the implementation of an e-mail policy limiting campus e-mail to that which only pertains to college business or classes.

We completely understand that such a policy needs to be in place. We can’t tell you how great it feels to open our e-mail and not have to mindlessly click the delete button for “lost item” or other personal e-mails. We are sure that the policy was implemented to keep unnecessary e-mails from reaching the entire student body.

When something happens that is as big as a lift on the same-sex marriage ban, however, what other alternative are we left with? With no way to get the news out to campus, where can students turn to receive breaking news?

This decision did not pertain to a specific group or to a specific class on campus because it was larger than that. We are sure that when the civil rights legislation was passed or when women got the vote, it didn’t pertain to a class either, but to imagine that the news would have been stopped from reaching the student body is preposterous to think of now.

We know that an e-mail policy is needed. But so are civil rights.