After an outcry from faculty and free speech advocates, Boston University (BU) President Melissa Gilliam apologized for the recent removal of Pride flags from public display on-campus and announced a pause to the policy behind their removal.

“I am deeply sorry,” Gilliam wrote in a Monday email to students and staff. “In the public conversation about Boston University’s time, place, and manner policies, that spotlight has fallen disproportionately on our LGBTQIA+ community, and I have heard how difficult and painful that has been.”

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Gilliam also reiterated BU’s support of its LGBTQ+ community. That support came under question after administrators removed LGBTQ+ Pride flags from at least three campus locations, including a professor’s office window.

The campus’ free expression policies — which were revised in September 2024, around the time of Gilliam’s arrival — said that university affiliates are “welcome to display signs, posters, or flags on authorized bulletin boards or on interior walls of their private offices.” However, the policy put prohibitions on outward-facing displays.

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Last week, a group of students, staff, and alumni gathered outside Gilliam’s office to protest the removals and deliver a petition. The petition — signed by about 2,000 community members and delivered to BU Vice President Christine Wynne — asked Gilliam to revise campus policy to allow community members to display signs and flags on doors, windows, and walls in individual offices, dorm rooms, and private workspaces — regardless of whether those displays are visible from outside, Boston.com reported.

At the gathering, Laura Jiménez, a professor at BU’s Wheelock College of Education & Human Development, said that visible symbols can positively affect students’ mental health and academic performance. She also worried that BU’s censorship of LGBTQ+ flags was a “first step” in the university “bowing to [an] authoritarian regime.”

Jiménez was likely referring to the current presidential administration’s extortive attempts to roll back LGBTQ+-inclusive campus policies, as well as any diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The president has repeatedly sought to illegally deny congressionally approved federal funds from schools that don’t comply with his administration’s sociopolitical agenda.

Nathan Phillips, a professor in BU’s College of Arts and Sciences whose Pride flag was removed, told Boston.com, “So much of [our opposition to the current display policy] is just about the humans that we know and supporting people and being caring for our community members.”

“My hope is that we are starting a dialogue with the administration that’s going to lead to a productive change in the policy, so that we can actually live up to the values and the principles that we actually claim to,” Phillips added.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a free speech advocacy group, expressed its pleasure at BU’s halted policy.

“On college campuses, flags often serve as a visible and accessible way for students and faculty to express their identities and beliefs,” the organization said in a statement. “Whether it’s a Pride flag, a Gadsden flag, or even just a Red Sox banner, the variety of flags in different office windows on campus at BU is a sign of a vibrant campus community with diverse viewpoints.”

In her email, Gilliam wrote, “We will not always agree on every issue — nor should we. We do not need to shy away from difficult conversations,” she said. “But we do need to agree to have those conversations and to listen with open minds. I look forward to many thoughtful, productive discussions to come.”

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