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Call this one a victory for the vets.
Less than a week after more than 1,000 military veterans flooded a college campus in New England to protest the school’s decision to remove the American flag from public display, Old Glory was flying high again over the grounds of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Now, the school is trying to undo the damage that a three-week anti-flag campaign has done to its image, but the way the college’s president just responded to questions won’t do anything to help.
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The flag controversy began on Nov. 9, when the Stars and Stripes were lowered to half staff by students in protest of Trump’s election, according to the Boston Globe. On Nov. 10, the flag was burned.
It continued to be flown at half-staff until Nov. 18, when Hampshire College president Jonathan Lash said the flag would be taken down to “enable discussion” and to “focus our efforts on addressing racist, misogynistic, Islamophobic, anti-immigrant, anti-Semitic, and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and behaviors,” according to The Washington Post.
Wow, any other complaints, sir?
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Over a thousand military veterans took action and descended on the campus to protest the decision, and the college has been the target of nonstop criticism from across America.
One veteran who took part in the protest might well have spoken for all.
“I was in Iraq 18 months. I got hurt, spent time at Walter Reed. I came home and there’s no way I’ll let anyone take down the flag, no way,” veteran David Soucy told local station WWLP. “It means a lot to me and my brothers.”
With WWLP reporting that another — possibly even larger — veterans protest planned for this weekend, the school apparently got the message. On Friday, the flag was returned to its position on campus.
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“I’ve received many emails, a lot of them extremely unpleasant,” Lash said told the Boston Globe. “Our phone lines have been clogged with people calling to express their anger. People can disagree with us, but we’ve also received very explicit threats.
“For us, we raise the flag as a symbol of our hopes for justice, fairness and freedom,” Lash said. “I hope this is not the end of the dialogue about these issues. The underlying issues are very important for the country.”
Lash’s decision to reinstate the American flag came two days after the Hampshire College president was confronted by Fox News’ Jesse Watters. When Watters showed up at Lash’s door and said it was good to see the president, Lash responded, “Not good to see you.”
Things got ugly quickly, with Watters putting his foot in the door and trying to get Lash to comment as to why he ordered the American flag taken down.
“I don’t want to talk to you about it,” Lash said.
“Don’t you think you owe it to the veterans to explain yourself?” Watters responded.
“I don’t want to talk to you about it,” Lash said. “Would you please remove your foot from my door?”
So much for dialogue. Apparently, for Mr. Lash, that’s only for people who agree with him.
Lash eventually called the police, a bitter irony for a protest that was forged in the same mold as the anti-cop, anti-law enforcement demonstrations we’ve seen across this country.
What happened at Hampshire college is thoroughly indicative of just how thick is the Kevlar bubble that the left hides in. It may have taken three weeks, but reality has burst that bubble, at least at Hampshire.
The school’s president and his institution went out of their way to insult every veteran and patriotic American who believes in what the flag stands for, all in the name of a litany of liberal grievances. If Mr. Lash really wants dialogue, he ought to engage and listen to the military veterans and all the other people outside his bubble.
I doubt the odds are good on that one, but the vets have made their point.
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