‘Veto’ Says UCI Student Government to American Flag Ban

Executive Cabinet members of the Associated Students of University of California Irvine (UCI) voted Saturday to overturn a resolution banning the hanging of the American flag, echoing the words of an earlier statement from the university that called the ban “misguided.”

Six members of the student legislative council had passed the flag ban earlier this week. Breitbart News previously reported on the vote to ban the American flag and all other flags, arguing that flags are “symbols of patriotism or weapons of nationalism.”

“We fundamentally disagree with the actions taken by ASUCI Legislative Council,” read a statement from the UCI Student Executive Council. “Their passage of R50-70 as counter to the ideals that allow us to operate as an autonomous student government organization with the freedoms of speech and expression associated with it. It is these very symbols that represent our constitutional rights that have allowed for our representative creation and our ability to openly debate all ranges of issues and pay tribute to how those liberties were attained.”

The statement continued:

As students in an academic institution we encourage all students on campus to participate in open debate about a wide array of issues and to actively engage in academic curiosity, which lies at the backbone of a preeminent academic research institution. It is this freedom to be able to navigate and explore topics on a wide range of issues that we see at risk if we begin to engage in a particular form of regulation of free speech and its expression through symbols in any space associated with our organization.

We as well want to reaffirm our commitment to diversity as a campus in all aspects and ideals associated with it. The concept of inclusion and diversity is a core pillar in the mission of University of California system and we wish to continue to work to have these important discussions of what our campus is doing to make this a priority.

Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana