Education

Taxpayer-Funded University Student Senate Drops American Flag Requirement, Citing DIVERSITY

American flag Getty Images/Ronald Martinez

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The student senate at the University of California, Davis voted to stop requiring the American flag at senate meetings.

Student senators at the taxpayer-funded school decided to change a rule requiring the display of the U.S. flag because “the concept of United States of America and patriotism is different for every individual,” reports Campus Reform.

UC Davis student senator Jose Meneses introduced the bill, Senate Bill 76, which prompted the change. In the bill, he observed that the student senate had frequently been flouting its own rules about displaying the flag, anyway.

“It should be at the discretion of the Senate whether presenting the flag is presently necessary,” the bill states. “Considering that the flag is seldom present at Senate meetings, it should not be mandated by the Bylaws as a codified practice.”

Some student senators at UC Davis opposed the change, calling it “a political statement.”

In a Facebook post, student senator Michael Gofman observed that the result will likely to be to “remove the flag of the United States from Senate meetings.”

The College Republicans student group at UC Davis also opposed the bill.

“The flag of the United States of America stands for the educational opportunity provided by America, as well as the sacrifice of our military soldiers and veterans to provide us with this freedom,” College Republicans spokeswoman Deborah Porter told Campus Reform.

“Restricting the flag to be displayed at the mercy of the President pro-tempore is a slap in the face to our military members, and their sacrifice, even to the death, for our freedoms,” Porter added.

A UC Davis spokesman noted that school officials had nothing to do with the rule change.

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