What does "Free Speech," really mean?

According to the First Amendment of The United States, we have the freedom to practice whatevr religion we want to, we have the freedom of speech, feedom of press, and we have the right to petition the government if we wanted to. Last week was our first Fee Speech class was held. In our first class we wacthed a video clip from a BYU portest they had on campus. Some students were portesting Vice President Dick Cheney visiting their campus. The students wanted to be able to express their feeelings about Mr. Cheney and his views. In order to do so they had to be approved by the school to do so, once they were approved they were given a certain amount of time and a certain amount of space to say what they needed to say. Does that sound like "Free Speec," to you? The students wanted to pactice their free speech rights and were allowed to speak their mind but only when BYU told them where and when they could do it. After watching this clip I then learned that a lot or all college campuses have a certain area for you can come together to speak your mind, but you do have to be approved to do so. This does not sound like "free speech," to me, it sounds like "regulated speech." I think college campuses are a perfect plece for people to come togetehr and let theri feelings be told or shown. Our whole college experience is to embrace diversity and be able to dicuss certain issues with fellow students. My question is what is the actual definition of Free Speech, and why if it gives of the freedom to express our feelings and emotions, does it have to be regulated?