ignorance..... flags are meant to show national pride and when displayed together national unity. Taking down flags is an admittance of distrust between nations and people. It is far more inclusive to include the flags representing every student at UC Irvine than it is too take down all the flags.... further it is highly disrespectful to take down the flag of the nation that is likely contributing significantly to ones education and provides grants and funds for the school to imporve, these are just ignorant students and if the resolution is passed I think the students who want their flags back up should put their flags back up, fuck a resolution and fuck ignorance. The group wants inclusiveness? then have international students bring their flags, a BYOF rally and see how many patriots show up.

SO a group of students don't want to fly a flag. So what?

College students have too much fucking time on their hands.

And debt.

So, I'm confused. Are they banning flags? Or are they taking down flags put up by the college? If it is the latter, then that is sad that they are refusing to celebrate the diversity of their students (put up flags for all nationalities represented at the college!). If it is the former, this is more about free speech than anything. Freedom of expression and all that.

It would be removing them from the common lobby area. Their reasoning is on the lines of freedom of speech being synonymous with hate speech, and the American flag, as a symbol of freedom, is a symbol of hate speech. And there was also some jazz about imperialism. In regards to any other flag, their reasoning also has to do with them being symbols of conformity.

"the student government at UC Irvine has voted to ban the display of all flags"

"the legislative council of the campus' Associated Students calls for removing all flags from the common lobby area of student government offices."

I don't know which part to believe. Which is it??? If I went to that college, I would make a campaign to just have someone bring flags in and personally hold them. Also, the students who are opposed to this should just fly flags on their doors. The Supreme Court has affirmed the right to fly any flag under basically any circumstances regardless of rules or laws.

Let's have a F2F tournament in the UC Irvine lobby and have everyone bring an American flag

^ Good idea.

UPDATE:

The Council's decision has been vetoed.

@KC- fire codes prevent flying flags in most dorms. I know in mine it did. and most students dont gamble with their education so they wouldnt.

They don't allow microwaves or extension cords either but everyone has one. This is clearly not about safety, CB.

true, but a flag on a door is far more obvious than a microwave under a bed or extension cord around the edges of the room.

You are aware that flags can fold, right?

"Also, the students who are opposed to this should just fly flags on their doors." - KC

bo- thats the point I was arguing. he didnt say folded or anything. I actually have a folded flag in my dorm. so yes I know they fold, and that isn't against fire code. fire code in my school says no wall ahnsg that cover more than 20% of a wall, and a flag of the regular post size covers more than 20% of our walls. (also no more than 20% of a door can be covered either) please, be reasonable here. you are arguing about things im not even arguing about.

You are suggesting that this decision was made based at least partially on safety concerns, are you not? I don't get it. They don't even mention that.

no. I was arguing KCs point that those opposed to the decision could just put up flags on their doors in protest.

Why not fly all flags? like... most buildings that have international swag

Or go with my plan of 'ultimate integration' via 'selective subjugation' it's all cool just don't question me

lol JK stay fresh

Meanwhile, at UC Los Angeles, members of the student council feel that Jewish people, particularly those active in their religion, are incapable of being unbiased.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/06/us/debate-on-a-jewish-student-at-ucla.html

Move along, nothing to see here. Just anti-Semitism. Move along, move along.

"hostile sentiment directed against Jews at many campuses in the country, often a byproduct of animosity toward the policies of Israel." Yeah, because a West Asian country controls the minds and actions of every Jewish person on the planet, right? Totally makes sense.

Irvine is doing something that could be for a defensible reason, but they're not. There is a major fault in the UCLA thinking. That statement implies that there are people who are capable of being unbiased, which is false.

We got some unmuricans here

1. The "logic" behind the UCI nonsense just makes me want to stick a flag in the student common area, claim UCI for Eddie Izzard, and if some hipster protests, ask him--

"Do you have a flag? No school no country, you can't have one! That's the rules...that I've just made up!"

:p

2. And somewhere, the UC Berkeley kids are crying that they didn't think up this garbage themselves first.

3. Pro-tip, from the WebDip King of Smugness--when trying to convince others of your point...try not to come across in your language as being so overly pompous, smug and downright condescending...no, I take it back, keep it up, it'll make the failure all the more entertaining.

4. I'd say this is yet another reason I laugh at the smugness of the UC's, but my college WOULD do the same...some schmucks here decided "Mirrorless Mondays" would be a great idea--yeah, just tape brown paper all across the mirrors, thus covering them (until we resolve that issue by, you know, tearing it) because hey, we don't need mirrors! Mirrors encourage narcissism and unobtainable standards of beauty! ...Or they're just a fucking basic utility in a public restroom and covering them up is a half-assed stunt to get attention for yourself while A. Not addressing the root causes of poor body image and B. Inconveniencing every schmuck who just wants to use a goddamn mirror in a public bathroom.

5. "But in the weeks since, that uncomfortable debate has upended this campus of 29,600 students that has long been central to the identity of Los Angeles. It has set off an anguished discussion of how Jews are treated, particularly in comparison with other groups that are more typically viewed as victims of discrimination, such as African-Americans and gays and lesbians."

70+ years since the Holocaust...do we really need another to remind people how raw a deal Jews have had for 2,000 years?

I mean, it's not as if we need to play the world's smallest violin either, but it does seem to me that people are more and more treating Antisemitism as a thing of the past...and while in one sense that's almost encouraging, to think people believe it's been done away with, in the more practical sense, I look at France and the Ukraine.

And to come full circle, I look at that story from late last year, wherein an Israeli flag got a worse reception on the UC Berkeley campus than an ISIS one. That's not an endorsement of Israel in this instance (though I'm still holding out hope that maybe, just maybe Isaac Herzog can eke out a win, but that's another story) so much as a display of just how sly the slights of Antisemitism are right now.

Palestinian, Israeli, it doesn't matter--there are VERY few flags and groups right now that should get a more hate-filled reaction than the Islamic State flag...and unless that flag's got a swastika on it, I think most of us--even those who really dislike Israel--can agree that the raping, beheading, cultural and ethnic cleansing bastards in Islamic State "win." (Again, more a condemnation of ISIS than support of Israel here...just saying, at the VERY least, there are millions of good, innocent Israeli and Palestinian citizens...whereas just about everyone in ISIS is an evil bastard--we can agree on this, at least?)

I think this current generation lumps many Western Jews in with Western Christian Whites...

And again--historically...no. Jews were "other" to Christian Whites in Europe and--at the start, at least--America as well.

If we're going to go completely collegiate here and use the popular term college kids love to use, "white privilege"...

Well, there are two parts to that term, yes? White AND Privilege?

Jews may be white in skin color...but look at the last 2,000 years and then tell me how much "privilege" they enjoyed all over Europe.

Again, we don't have to play the world's smallest violin and act like American Jews have it the worst of any minority in America--but it's likewise important to recognize Jews ARE still a minority. They haven't historically been part of the white male majority in terms of those who hold power...and look at those running this country, and the majority is STILL White, Male, and Christian.

Incidents such as in the NY Times article are little things, but bigotry starts with little things...and given recent events in Paris, Ukraine and Copenhagen, I REALLY hope it doesn't take a BIG THING against the Jews (again) to make people remember...

"though I'm still holding out hope that maybe, just maybe Isaac Herzog can eke out a win, but that's another story" I've given up hope on that one. Even if he wins more Knesset seats than Netanyahu, more than half the seats go to right-wing parties that are more willing to form a coalition with him than Herzog. Sorry.

Yeah...it's probably a fool's hope Likud loses power...but they and Hamas have to go before there can be a chance for peace in the region.

Can't make peace with leaders on both sides on the extreme militaristic right. :/

I wish I was surprised. Universities are full of America-hating communists, especially universities in California. They ought to be tried for treason; the lot of 'em.