God hates . . . flags?! UC students ban Old Glory

TND Guest Contributor:  Will Swaim |

IRVINE, CALIF. —  Declaring the American flag a symbol of “colonialism and imperialism,” student council members on the campus of UC Irvinethis week voted to prohibit its public display.

Resolution 50-70 passed on a 6-4 vote (with two abstentions), and applies only to the Associated Students of UCI main lobby. ASUCI President Reza Zomorrodian said he’s called a special Saturday meeting to overturn the resolution.

The resolution didn’t stop with the American flag. It proposed a ban on “all flags of any nation” in the student-government space.

The resolution also seemed to condemn the First Amendment.

“In a space that aims to be as inclusive as possible” freedom of speech “can be interpreted as hate speech,” said the resolution.

The student officials concluded, “Let it be further be resolved that if a decorative item is in the Associate student lobby space and issues arise, the solution will be to remove the item if there is considerable request to do so.”

But the bulk of the resolution is a list of grievances about the American flag. American flags are, the students declared, “often associated with government and military,” “weapons for nationalism,” and a symbol to some of “American exceptionalism and superiority.”

“What an embarrassment for the university and our students,” said Mark Petracca, UC Irvine’s associate dean for undergraduate studies and former chair of the school’s political science department. “Only George Orwell might be able to understand how the desire to pursue an inclusive environment at the ASUCI offices requires the exclusion of the American — or any other — flag. This is truly baffling and unfortunate. Hopeful wiser heads will prevail when the Executive Council meets (Saturday) to consider this proposed legislative action. It’s a shame that with so many truly important things going on in higher education right now, never mind the world, that the ASUCI Legislative Council decided to spend it’s time on such an obviously misguided initiative.”

“I stand firmly against this piece of legislation,” Zomorrodian, the ASUCI president said in a news release Friday. “Though I understand the author’s intent and supporters’ intent, I disagree with the solution the council has come to. I speak for myself about my feelings on this piece of legislation. However, as chair of the Executive Cabinet, we will be having a conversation about this piece of legislation and deciding what course of action the cabinet will take collectively.”

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Watchdog.org is an online news organization that publishes articles by independent journalists covering state-specific and local government activity. The program began in September 2009, a project of Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting new media journalism.  This article is reprinted with permission.

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