Faculty, staff and students at Boston University gathered last week in protest after the University administration pulled down Pride flags displayed on “outward-facing windows and doors” during the recent spring break.
Reports MassLive.com:
Holding pride flags whipping in the wind, dozens of students, staff and faculty rallied outside Boston University President Melissa Gilliam’s office on a brisk Thursday afternoon in response to the administration’s removal of flags and political posters.
“It is clear to us at this point that the university administration’s gaze is fixed firmly on Washington and not right here on campus,” said Raul Fernandez, a senior lecturer at Boston University.
The pushback on the Boston University administration comes in light of LGBTQ+ flags being taken down in faculty offices and the Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies program office over spring break last month.
Speakers at the rally said the assault on free expression began before that, from cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion language and programming to pushback on pro-Palestine protesters to other signs and flags being ordered to be taken down. Even a cutout of Michelle Obama was taken down — though a five-foot Taylor Swift mylar balloon wasn’t.
This crackdown comes in response to federal government pressure on higher education and has led the university to proactively comply with Trump administration directives, including the February 2025 “Dear Colleague” letter from the U.S. Department of Education, which targeted DEI programming, Fernandez said.
“It was since February of last year that we saw what it looked like for this university to pre-comply, to be complicit in what the Trump administration has been trying to do on college campuses. And it’s just gotten worse and worse since then,” Fernandez said.
The college community hand-delivered a petition, signed by over 2,000 people, noting their concerns about the “administration’s decisions to restrict the constitutionally protected speech of members of our community.”
They were met by a staff member who said she’d give it to the president. A Boston University spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The community members called for a revised posting policy that allows students, faculty and staff to hang signs, banners, flags or posters openly. They also asked the university to recognize that the signs and flags aren’t a viewpoint but an identity, one that is feeling erased.