Controversy at UMF
So, I'm not sure how wide spread this story has gotten, but I'm seeing blogs and message boards exploding all over the place about it, so I thought I'd add my two cents.
A student at my school, University of Maine at Farmington, presented an art project yesterday that has caused all almighty uproar. She put five 4x5 foot American flag replicas made of duct tape and 3,000 miniature made-in-china-type flag replicas in a zig-zag pattern on the floor of the main hall of the student center, leaving plenty of room for students to walk between if they chose. She set up a video camera taping the feet of students as they walked through the hall, to see how many people would walk across the flags and how many walked around them. The project, to her, was supposed to represent respect vs. disrespect. She wanted everyone to see the flags on the floor and be forced to make the conscious decision to either walk around them or walk on them.
Around 3pm, a local veteran came in and started protesting, saying it was disgusting and disgraceful that the school would support such a project. He said that, as a veteran, he fought for this flag and the country it represents. Putting the flag on the ground is illegal, even though there is no legal punishment for it. He felt that this was a spit in the face of everything he and other soldiers have fought for. First he demanded that the student take the project down. When she refused, he went to the head of the school, who supported the students right to present the project, and refused to ask the student to remove it. Then he started trying to pick up the flags but was told that if he continued, he would be arrested, as it was vandalism of public property to deface the project.
Over the course of the time that he was there, a large chunk of the student body started milling around the flags. Some were there to support the veteran. They took up post next to him, standing around the flags so that no one could stand on them. Some were there to support the student, mostly just there supporting her, not actually doing anything. A few people went out of their way to stand in the center of the flags, either to show support of the student or their support of free speech, or just to be be controversial, I'm not really sure. And a couple people showed up with video cameras and taped the veteran talking with the principal, the students, whatever else was happening.
The whole thing was handled relatively calmly. Classes weren't disturbed and no screaming matches or fights broke out. The veteran was upset, but he kept a relatively level head about it and argued with words instead of throwing a tantrum. Eventually, though, too many people showed up and it got disruptive, and the county police were called. I'm not sure why/how, but the local fire chief got involved, and he deemed the project unsafe. He said the flags in the center of the hall created a tripping hazard and asked the student to push the flags to the walls. She was tired of fighting, and instead she picked the whole thing up.
Okay. I tried to write that as impartially as I could, with just the facts as I've seen them. I'm insanely curious to see what your reactions are. I've been scanning the internet, and it's amazing how each side is twisting the facts to support their opinion. Which, you know, I guess shouldn't really be surprising, but it always amazes me how... narrow minded people get when it comes to controversial things like this. How people will twist the facts. The liberals are screaming that the veteran ripped the project of the floor, and insulted the school system, the student, whatever. And the right-wingers are screaming that the student intentionally covered the entire floor so that we had no choice but to walk on the flags. And both of those are so far from the truth. The veteran was very, very upset, but he was as respectful as you could expect him to be. He didn't tear her project apart and I don't think he ever even yelled at anyone. And there was more than enough room to get around the flags. As a matter of fact, when the student reviewed the footage, more than 95% of us skirted the flags completely.
I have my opinion, but it's as middle of the road as you can get. I think the project was great, it did what it intended. People are definitely thinking about what the flag means to them. I think the student was right in refusing to pick up the project, even though it offended some people. I'm so proud of the school for not making her pick it up. But, at the same time, I'm very proud of the veteran for coming into such a liberal school and protesting. He had every right to be upset over this and I can totally see why he sees this as a spit in the face of everything he fought for. There is no right or wrong here, as far as I'm concerned. It's all about freedom of expression. Even if the project had been designed to be a blatant protest against America(i.e. intentional desecration of the flag), the fact still remains that that right is protected under the first amendment. At the same time, the right to protest such an action is equally protected.
I think this project and the protest have gone down in the best way possible. No one had their right to express themselves taken away. The only thing I'm not happy about is the fact that now the school is split down the middle and at each others throats about it. No one wants the other side to express their opinion, which is just so depressing to me.
So, if you made it this far... reactions?
ETA: Okay, respect for the veteran just dropped about 50%. The local news station just did a quick blurb on the protest the veteran set up for earlier today. He went on a tangent about how "He would die for the flag, and how he was willing just yesterday to go to jail for the flag". But he wasn't willing to go to jail for the flag. He stopped picking them up as soon as someone asked him to. Don't stand there in front of the news cameras talking about how brave you were, standing up to the police. You stood up to a liberal arts college. Not the police.
A student at my school, University of Maine at Farmington, presented an art project yesterday that has caused all almighty uproar. She put five 4x5 foot American flag replicas made of duct tape and 3,000 miniature made-in-china-type flag replicas in a zig-zag pattern on the floor of the main hall of the student center, leaving plenty of room for students to walk between if they chose. She set up a video camera taping the feet of students as they walked through the hall, to see how many people would walk across the flags and how many walked around them. The project, to her, was supposed to represent respect vs. disrespect. She wanted everyone to see the flags on the floor and be forced to make the conscious decision to either walk around them or walk on them.
Around 3pm, a local veteran came in and started protesting, saying it was disgusting and disgraceful that the school would support such a project. He said that, as a veteran, he fought for this flag and the country it represents. Putting the flag on the ground is illegal, even though there is no legal punishment for it. He felt that this was a spit in the face of everything he and other soldiers have fought for. First he demanded that the student take the project down. When she refused, he went to the head of the school, who supported the students right to present the project, and refused to ask the student to remove it. Then he started trying to pick up the flags but was told that if he continued, he would be arrested, as it was vandalism of public property to deface the project.
Over the course of the time that he was there, a large chunk of the student body started milling around the flags. Some were there to support the veteran. They took up post next to him, standing around the flags so that no one could stand on them. Some were there to support the student, mostly just there supporting her, not actually doing anything. A few people went out of their way to stand in the center of the flags, either to show support of the student or their support of free speech, or just to be be controversial, I'm not really sure. And a couple people showed up with video cameras and taped the veteran talking with the principal, the students, whatever else was happening.
The whole thing was handled relatively calmly. Classes weren't disturbed and no screaming matches or fights broke out. The veteran was upset, but he kept a relatively level head about it and argued with words instead of throwing a tantrum. Eventually, though, too many people showed up and it got disruptive, and the county police were called. I'm not sure why/how, but the local fire chief got involved, and he deemed the project unsafe. He said the flags in the center of the hall created a tripping hazard and asked the student to push the flags to the walls. She was tired of fighting, and instead she picked the whole thing up.
Okay. I tried to write that as impartially as I could, with just the facts as I've seen them. I'm insanely curious to see what your reactions are. I've been scanning the internet, and it's amazing how each side is twisting the facts to support their opinion. Which, you know, I guess shouldn't really be surprising, but it always amazes me how... narrow minded people get when it comes to controversial things like this. How people will twist the facts. The liberals are screaming that the veteran ripped the project of the floor, and insulted the school system, the student, whatever. And the right-wingers are screaming that the student intentionally covered the entire floor so that we had no choice but to walk on the flags. And both of those are so far from the truth. The veteran was very, very upset, but he was as respectful as you could expect him to be. He didn't tear her project apart and I don't think he ever even yelled at anyone. And there was more than enough room to get around the flags. As a matter of fact, when the student reviewed the footage, more than 95% of us skirted the flags completely.
I have my opinion, but it's as middle of the road as you can get. I think the project was great, it did what it intended. People are definitely thinking about what the flag means to them. I think the student was right in refusing to pick up the project, even though it offended some people. I'm so proud of the school for not making her pick it up. But, at the same time, I'm very proud of the veteran for coming into such a liberal school and protesting. He had every right to be upset over this and I can totally see why he sees this as a spit in the face of everything he fought for. There is no right or wrong here, as far as I'm concerned. It's all about freedom of expression. Even if the project had been designed to be a blatant protest against America(i.e. intentional desecration of the flag), the fact still remains that that right is protected under the first amendment. At the same time, the right to protest such an action is equally protected.
I think this project and the protest have gone down in the best way possible. No one had their right to express themselves taken away. The only thing I'm not happy about is the fact that now the school is split down the middle and at each others throats about it. No one wants the other side to express their opinion, which is just so depressing to me.
So, if you made it this far... reactions?
ETA: Okay, respect for the veteran just dropped about 50%. The local news station just did a quick blurb on the protest the veteran set up for earlier today. He went on a tangent about how "He would die for the flag, and how he was willing just yesterday to go to jail for the flag". But he wasn't willing to go to jail for the flag. He stopped picking them up as soon as someone asked him to. Don't stand there in front of the news cameras talking about how brave you were, standing up to the police. You stood up to a liberal arts college. Not the police.