The student government of University of California, Irvine expressed their American right to embrace ignorance after they passed a majority vote to ban the U.S. flag from their corridors this past week.
Citing the flag as symbolism for “colonialism and imperialism” and “exceptionalism and superiority,” student Matthew Guevara of the university’s social ecology school enforced the 6-4 vote saying, “Freedom of speech, in a space that aims to be as inclusive as possible, can be interpreted as hate speech.”
Naturally, no good deed goes unpunished and FOX News is reporting that members of the executive cabinet of the Associated Students of UC Irvine met yesterday, March 7, in an emergency session to shut down the stupidity.
Student government President Reza Zomorrodian reportedly told Todd Starnes, “Our campus is patriotic and proud. We did something right for our campus.”
A few weeks ago, the flag was taken from the lobby and put it on Zomorrodian’s desk with an anonymous note that read something along the lines that it didn’t belong there.
Granted this nation each and every one of us calls a home is an imperfect one, with more problems than solutions. That being said, there has been historical documentation of countless minorities; whether their name was a Washington, Jackson, Guevara or their lineage was bastardized to the point of untraceable roots; that have fought for the right to bear and lay claim to that U.S. flag.
The UC Irvine student government’s nearsighted views reminded us how the privileged and naive days of college rarely equate to that ideal position upon graduation. “The views of a handful of students passing a resolution do not represent the opinions of the nearly 30,000 students on this campus, and have no influence on the policies and practices of the university,” a portion of the statement read to reinforce anyone’s outrage opinion.
—
Photo: Carrie Devorah/WENN
