Students at Trinity College in Connecticut riffed on a school official as she removed two patriotic flags but allowed flags denoting the LGTBQ community to remain, according to viral video footage posted to TikTok.
As reported by the Daily Caller, two students hung a “Don’t Tread On Me” flag as well as an American flag adorned with blue, red, and green lines denoting police, firefighters, and federal agents. But an alleged school administrator, under the guise of the self-described Director of Housing Operations, removed them from a student dorm, drawing protests and condemnation from the students who posted video of the incident.
“Who are you touching our flags? You have no right to do this,” said a student who claimed to be the owner of the flags.
“You were directed to take it down,” the alleged official responded. “The dean’s office has requested — put your phone away.”
“Absolutely not,” the student responded. “I have every right to record, and you know that. This is America. We have the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, freedom of expression. I don’t know why you’re taking our flags down.”
The official then told the two students who were recording the flag removal to go to the dean’s office. The students claimed in the video that while other students were asked to remove their flags, only the “Don’t Tread On Me” and the modified American flags were physically removed by school officials.
Meanwhile, an online commentator noted that the college previously displayed Pride flags around campus.
Here is @TrinityCollege showing off a pride flag hanging from their Art Center while they force students to remove flags they don’t like. pic.twitter.com/XndiZcW8KJ
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 31, 2022
Kristen Cole, a senior director of media relations at Trinity College, told the Daily Caller that the dean was merely enforcing the Student Handbook.
“The Trinity College Student Handbook states that objects are not allowed to be placed outside of residence hall windows for safety reasons,” Cole said.
But the handbook states that “no objects of any type (including liquid), may be thrown, dropped, pushed out of, placed outside of, or allowed to fall from any residential building window. Students found responsible for such actions will face residential censure.”
That led Cole to admit that the rules were not uniformly enforced around the campus, the Daily Caller noted.
“The event has highlighted the need for more consistent enforcement of handbook rules, and the college is working with the student body to create awareness and compliance,” Cole said. “The dean’s office will directly work with students for more consistent enforcement.”
