Student leaders veto vote to remove U.S. flag from California campus space

A California university student’s effort to ban the U.S. flag from an inclusive space on campus was rejected Saturday by his classmates.

Matthew Guevara, a member of the Associated Students of University of California, Irvine (ASUCI), introduced a resolution that would ban all flags — including the Stars and Stripes — from the lobby of the building where the main student association officers were located.

On Thursday, the resolution passed in a 6-4 vote with two members abstaining. But on Saturday, the Associated Student’s Executive Cabinet vetoed the idea by a 4-1 vote during a private meeting.

Before the veto vote, ASUCI President Reza Zomorrodian said he strongly opposed Mr. Guevara’s idea.

“I stand firmly against this piece of legislation,” Mr. Zomorrodian said in a post to the group’s Facebook page. “Though I understand the author’s intent and supporters’ intent, I disagree with the solution Council has come to.”

Dubbed R50-70, the resolution said that “flags construct paradigms of conformity and sets homogenized standards for others to obtain, which in this country typically are idolized as freedom, equality and democracy.”

Therefore, in an effort to make the lobby “as inclusive as possible,” no flags could be displayed, including the American flag since it “has been flown in instances of colonialism and imperialism.”