Freedom of speech is something we in student journalism take very seriously. Stupidity? Not so much. (However, silliness and gummy bears are welcome.) So when Massachusetts Institute of Technology student Star Simpson (I didn’t name her) was arrested at Boston’s Logan International Airport on suspicion of carrying a bomb, we all shook our heads in shame and shed a single tear like the crying American Indian in that ’70s-era public service announcement for environmental awareness.

However, maybe I was too quick in questioning her intelligence. She does attend the eminent Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Maybe she has a perfectly logical explanation for why she wore a black sweatshirt with a circuit board, LED lights and a battery with the words ‘socket to me’ and ‘Course IV’ written in magic marker to an airport (or at all).

She told police that it was ‘a piece of art’ and she ‘wanted to stand out on career day.’ So a lot of people felt the police overreacted by bringing the bomb squad, automatic submachine guns and those cute and cuddly German shepherds.

Others blame the Massachusetts Port Authority staffer, who Simpson questioned about a passenger’s arrival time, for mistaking a circuit board for a bomb (whoever breaks their laptop in an airport is screwed).

I blame intelligence without common sense.

Members of the student-run MIT Electronic Research Society, where Simpson works, claim they’ve been wearing parts of electronics on their apparel for years. My theory is they each wear an individual part and, when combined, they turn into a supercomputer that can recite all the numbers in pi (or Optimus Prime). If that is the case, she definitely went high tech. With LED lights and a nine-volt battery the likes of which I’ve seen last in a VCR remote, the image must have been spectacular.

And let’s not forget the Play-Doh. Breaking through conformity and the recommended age range of two to seven, she can sculpture a perfect round ball, something I could never master as a child. No wonder I’m not at MIT.

Some may view her actions as irrational and others may view actions against her as censorship, but in the end, it all comes down to logic. And according to her personal Web site, she has plenty. Where’s the proof, you ask?

She wrote she was ‘saving the planet from evil villains with my delivered-just-in-time gadgets.’ Let’s understand that freedom of speech and trouble are not co-dependent, in contrast to me and my stud-muffin good looks (that wasn’t a joke).

Maybe Simpson was harmless after all. Maybe she wore her ‘art’ because she just wanted a little attention. Maybe she just wanted to be the ‘Star’ for which she is so accordingly named. And maybe now she is just like Andy Dick and Young Dro. (Who? Exactly.)