Oct 15, 2009 6:44 pm US/Eastern
UNH Freshman Fights To Fly American Flag
DURHAM, N.H. (WBZ) ―
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Conner MacIver, who's the son of a retired Army Officer, hung an American flag from his second floor window at Hubbard Hall, but was ordered to take it down.
WBZ
A UNH freshman is fighting to fly his American flag outside of his dorm.
Conner MacIver, who's the son of a retired Army Officer, hung an American flag from his second floor window at Hubbard Hall, but after two weeks, someone reported it to UNH, and the school ordered him to take it down.
"I was brought up in a military family, my dad served 20 years in the army, and that's how I grew up, that's what I was born into the first 12 years of m y life. I went to school on military bases, pledge of allegiance, star spangled banner, we always had a flag hanging, there were flags everywhere. That's the life I lived."
Conner says he checked into the fire code, but didn't look into the schools safety policy before hanging the flag.
UNH police restricts anything from being put on the exterior of a dorm.
UNH's Director of Residential Life Scott Chesney says their policy is really consistent with other schools, including UConn, UMass, UVM and even the Naval Academy. " We didn't want all of our halls looking like festivals all the time, so we would not want to be placed in that positions of saying this flag is OK, and this one is not."
Nate Stein, a senior, believes unless there is a safety issue, Conner should be able to fly the flag. "The whole idea of a university is to have an open free flow of ideas, and if it's your feeling to display your patriotism or not, it should be up to you."
Sarah Stranger, another senior, says, "As long as it's not going to hurt anyone, I don't see the problem with it."
Laura Jumpp, a junior, sees both sides. "I think it's a safety issue, if it's out there, like and there was a fire, it could hurt the air systems in the dorm."
But she says, "It's sad it's an American flag, and they're putting down patriotism by not allowing him to have it out."
Jumpp suggested a solution would be to put up more flag poles around campus.
Conner plans to appeal the decision, and try to change the policy. But he's been told the school won't hear the appeal until the spring. "There should be something to address the policy, to change the policy, so I can hang my flag and support America."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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