Students at the University of California Irvine, have banned the American flag from campus in an effort to make the school more “culturally inclusive.” For the students, such inclusiveness involves removing all flags from the school’s lobby where the offices of student government are housed.
The decision to ban the U.S. flag was a result of the student government organization,t Associated Students of University of California (ASUCI) coming up with a written resolution for which students later voted for or against. The resolution passed Thursday according to the LA Times . The author of the resolution, Matthew Guevara, recently read a portion of the resolution test aloud to the student body.
“Designing a culturally inclusive space aims to remove barriers that create undue effort and separation by planning and designing spaces that enable everyone to participate equally and confidentially.”
Although the vote for the resolution passed 6-4, there is still a large part of the student body who disagree with the decision. Daniel La, a senior at the University of California, Irvine made a statement on the current divided opinions of campus.
“There’s a lot of students that aren’t happy about it. I don’t personally agree with it either.”
Siding with Daniel and the countless students who are pro-American flag, the UCI administration are reportedly preparing to veto the non-endorsed resolution. The student government board which is compiled of five students is expected to meet Saturday to make a motion to veto. The ASUCI president himself, Reza Zomorrodian has made a statement via Facebook expressing his disapproval of the ban of the U.S. flag and the resolution as a whole.
“I stand firmly against this piece of legislation.”
Zomorrodian also made a statement to Fox News which suggested that the 6-4 vote did not include enough people to be deemed legitimate.
“Only six people voted for this. We have 22,000 undergrads here. Six people made this decision. The UC Irvine has made huge contributions to bettering this country. This is an elected body that made a decision for the whole and will suffer the consequences of making that decision.”
The resolution is thought by the voters to signify “freedom of speech.” The supporters of the bill are also supportive of the claim the bill makes that the U.S. flag is in many ways, a symbol of hatred toward non-Americans. The text states that the American flag is “flown in instances of colonialism and imperialism” and “serve as symbols of patriotism or weapons for nationalism.”
If the resolution is indeed vetoed on Saturday, the matter will reportedly bounce directly back to the legislative council where supporters have the option to override the veto. In the meantime, the U.S. flag is folded and held in the office of the vice president.
Image via [University of California, Irvine]
