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April 17, 2008
University of Maine Desecrates American Flag
An assignment to create a social experiment art project generated turmoil at the University of Maine at Farmington Tuesday when student Susan Crane constructed large, 4-by-5-foot American flags and placed them on the floor of student center hallway along with 3,000 small flags.
The project was to see if people walked around or over them , but veteran Charles Bennett, commander of the American Legion for Franklin County, seated, attempted to remove the flags, calling it a disgrace. He was stopped by police and resorted to stand by until Crane removed them.
FARMINGTON: Art and beliefs clash at UMF
On Tuesday April 15th an "art" project was put up at the Student Center at the University of Maine at Farmington.
FARMINGTON
Susan Crane thought she was prepared to handle the reaction from students when she constructed five, large American flags on the student center hallway floor at the University of Maine at Farmington as an art class project.
What she didn't expect was the level of emotion her experiment ignited.
Agitated students and veterans called it an insult. UMF maintenance workers placed cardboard signs at either end with the word "disgrace" printed in black.
And a member of the American Legion from Farmington was ready to be arrested by police when he started pulling up the flags made of tape and vinyl, calling it a "desecration."
Veteran Charles Bennett, the Legion commander for Franklin County, eventually was convinced by UMF President Theodora Kalikow to desist in the name of freedom of speech.
The assignment was to create a social commentary piece for a class with assistant art professor Kate Randall.
Starting about 6 a.m., students and employees walking through the student center had to decide to either step around or step on the five, four-by-five-foot flags and the 3,000 small, handheld flags scattered over the floor. As part of her project, Crane videotaped people's feet to record their response.
"This is very emotional for me because it goes against a lot of my own beliefs about the flag," Crane said, her eyes tearing up, after holding her own against a verbal barrage.
"But I feel strongly that people should have the choice. That is what our country is all about. I expected controversy but not like this," she said.
"I am on their side and I agree with what they are saying but they were also not hearing what I was saying," she said.
"Veterans have fought for our freedom and died for our freedom. This is what our freedom is all about," Crane said.
Crane, 40, an education major, described herself as a conservative Republican whose father is a 25-year military veteran. She said she had talked about her project with him and that he supported it.
"He said he respected what I was doing because he had fought for these rights," she said.
Bennett, when he arrived at about 3 p.m., began picking up the small flags and then started pulling up a large one. Crane called for UMF security and Director of Public Safety Ted Blais arrived. He asked Bennett to stop and step outside to talk.
Bennett later returned and confronted Crane and Randall, offering to give them pamphlets on flag etiquette and repeatedly requesting them to remove the flags. They responded that this was an art project that they had permission for and that the request was reviewed by legal counsel.
Bennett then first sat down by a flag and then stood beside it.
"I am protecting them. I am stopping people from walking on them," he said. "It is against the law to put the flag on the floor."
The overwhelming majority of passersby circumvented the flags. Only a few chose to step on them, Crane observed.
As the peaceful but loud crowd increased, Blais called for backup. Officers from the Farmington Police Department and UMF arrived as did Kalikow, Provost Alan Berger and Celeste Branham, vice president of student affairs. Kalikow took Bennett aside to explain the college's position.
"The U.S. Constitution touches everybody and the flag is a symbol of our rights. We have to protect that," Kalikow said later.
"(Bennett) feels very strongly and I feel very strongly," she said. "I didn't like this either because I was brought up with flag etiquette. But (Crane) has the right to do it. Is that not what America is about?"
Senior Ashlea Andrews, 21, rehabilitation major from Boothbay Harbor, told Crane she was not respecting the flag.
"This hurts veterans and the people who have served to give us our freedoms," she said. "I am all for freedom of speech, but this is the common area in the student center. This is a public place. It doesn't belong here."
Randall responded that there were as many people on campus who believed the project was a demonstration of freedom of speech as those "who believe in censorship."
Student Craig Durant, 22, of Milo, said he came over to show his support for the project. "I absolutely support her. This is art. But I also support (Bennett) volunteering his opinion. I love the fact he is standing up for what he believes."
Iraq war veteran Travis Hill, 28, of Salem Township, called the display "infuriating" and "insulting" and told Crane to take it down.
"She made her point. Why keep going?" he said.
Crane constructed the flags with a 5-foot-wide, winding path between them large enough to accommodate a wheelchair and avoid congestion, she said. She said she put a lot of thought into the project to see if people respected the flag.
"With all the unrest everywhere, I wanted to do something that would force people to think about how they feel about the flag. It was supposed be about respect versus disrespect," she said.
Crane said she researched the topic including the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions that struck down federal and state statutes prohibiting flag desecration. The court found those laws infringed on the right to free speech and expression under the First Amendment.
The project was approved for 24 hours. That plan was shelved, however, when Farmington Fire Chief Terry Bell, after consulting with State Fire Marshal Tim Fuller, determined the flags presented a tripping hazard.
By late afternoon, he ordered them moved to one side of the hall but Crane, exhausted, decided to remove them completely.
She said the confrontations were upsetting, especially since her 11-year-old son and husband were there. But she is proud she stood up for what she believed.
"The best thing about all this was that it sparked discussion," she said afterward.
Wild Thing's comment........
This has me crying, this is so horrible.
I would have been arrested. No way I could have stood there and watched our Flag be walked on.
What's so mind numbingly amazing is that they are so incredibly proud and self-righteous in their liberalism and disrespect of our country. It really sickens me and makes me want to cry to see this happen over and over. To see one lone veteran standing up to these "intellectuals".
President of the University of Maine at Farmington : Theo Kalikow
246 Main Street, Farmington, Maine 04938
E-mail: kalikow@maine.edu
The email I got back from the President of the school:
"From: Theo Kalikow To: Subject: Re: Please End the UMF American Flag Desecration Display Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 12:57:20 -0400 The display was taken down last night. It had permission to be installed for 24 hours only, and was taken down at the artist's initiative considerably before that time. That being said, our American First Amendment protections include the right to free speech and artistic expression, even speech that is repugnant and unpleasant and offensive. UMF, as a teaching and learning institution, has an obligation to foster debate and disagreement about difficult subjects -- this is an essential part of our democracy. Thanks for your expression of your point of view. Sincerely, Theodora J. Kalikow, President. "
Posted by Wild Thing at April 17, 2008 04:50 AM
Comments
Now you know why our kids attend southern red state universities, eh? God bless the 31 Red States of America AND 15 Gray States of Southern America / CSA!
Posted by: darthcrUSAderworldtour07 at April 17, 2008 06:11 AM
Maine is Vermont with an ocean. A mixed bag of goobers living off well-heeled vacationers and incomers who found Massachusetts too conservative for them. Sorry, Mainers. Take your state back. You get more in Federal dollars than you pay. Is it worth it?
Posted by: Rhod at April 17, 2008 06:57 AM
PS:
Maine is also a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants.
Posted by: Rhod at April 17, 2008 07:02 AM
I bet Obama would have loved this display as it's right up his alley.
THE FLAG CODE
Title 36, U.S.C., Chapter 10
As amended by P.L. 322, 103rd Congress
Approved September 13, 1994
176. Respect for flag
No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.
(a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
(b) The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.
http://hospitality-1st.com/PressNews/FlagCode.html
I hate to say it folks but when you see people wear the flag as article of clothing: shirts, hats, bikini tops, do-rags, pants, etc, they're showing the same disrespect to the flag as this display was.
Posted by: BobF at April 17, 2008 07:14 AM
With the curriculuum taught today is this any surprise. In Kindergarten, 6 year olds are taught about 'homosexuals', in Maine they want to pass out 'birth control pills ' to the grammar school girls on the premise, of course, that, well they are going to do it anyway.
These same kids think all rights come from the government, that we should not protect our borders, the American Flag is a piece of cloth, with little meaning, and our sovereignty is a thing of the past. Like the Constitution a living breathing document that changes with the will of a few, those few being the Marxist left.
This is a test by the left to see how far they have gotten in destroying the principles of this country and how far they have to go.
Posted by: Mark at April 17, 2008 07:44 AM
Crane knew exactly what she was doing. She doesn't lie well, does she?
But people have been desecrating the American Flag for a long, long time--they just don't care.
So fine, those who don't care about Old Glory, who has stood the test of time through war time, peace time and everything inbetween can just leave. We don't need pantywaisted liberal weenies like you running amuck and making a mockery of our Flag and our Nation. There is Freedom of Speech, thank God, but God also gives us the brainpan to know when to temper that Freedom and we're expected to use it from time to time.
Yes, America is all about Freedoms, but this time she went too far and hurt our veterans, our soldiers, our families and our founding fathers and all the women who made Flags for us when our country was new.
Why don't you do with another country's flag? Desecrate it and see what happens? HMMM?
Posted by: Lynn at April 17, 2008 09:35 AM
Rope, tree, no instructions needed, hang that bitch!!!
Posted by: Jack at April 17, 2008 10:46 AM
Yes, Crane probably had the right to do that. But it was totally unnecessary and meant to be "in your face". Very stupid of her. It would be my right to call her chubby and plain jane ugly also. But under ordinary circumstances, decency would keep me from those comments. In the name of art though I will say she is fat, ugly and stupid. She sought confrontation and got more than she expected. I will give those Maine people credit for mostly being against her.
Posted by: TomR at April 17, 2008 12:11 PM
It would be interesting to see the MSM and Democrat's response if a similar project in a red state used African-American red, black, and green flags as well as flags of Mexico to see how many people walked around or over them. I believe, in that case, people would be arrested and charged with hate crimes. What a country!
Posted by: Les at April 17, 2008 12:32 PM
Darth,yes and I can see why so many of the students I meet think the way they do. No good education at home either about what made America a great country then they go to school and are taught lies and leftist thinking.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 17, 2008 12:49 PM
Rhod, oh wow interesting. Thanks for the information. Well they will be sorry they took the total left road in many ways.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 17, 2008 01:03 PM
Bob, thank you so much for the Flag Code. Yes I bet Obama would have loved the Flag display at this school. grrrrrr
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 17, 2008 01:14 PM
Mark, it makes me so sick to my stomach what has been happening. This thing about what the left has been teaching innocent young children in Kindergarten around the country is one of the things at the top of my list of what I hate about the left.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 17, 2008 01:18 PM
Lynn, I agree, Crane knew exactly what she was doing. And she is NO conservative either like she said she was that is baloney. A conservative would never do this kind of thing.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 17, 2008 01:22 PM
Jack, Yessss
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 17, 2008 01:23 PM
Tom, LMAO good one! Love how you did that.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 17, 2008 01:26 PM
Les, good point, they would probably arrest the person doing it the way you said. They have a total double standard and they sure don't love America.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 17, 2008 01:34 PM
When Vilmar had his other Blog, someone made this comment concerning the Flag.
“I’m amazed. You really don’t have a clue, here. Please, try to get it: we fight to protect a Constitution, not a flag. Flags are just symbols. They aren’t the real thing”.
This was how I answered him.
What this person said about what we fight for is absolutely right. When members of the Armed Forces swear their Oath of Enlistment, they swear to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. No oath is sworn to the flag and neither is their any oath sworn to protect the flag. Also, no oath is sworn to protect and defend the people of the United States either.
But, when a military member swears an Oath of Enlistment there is always an American Flag present; a requirement. When military members hear the National Anthem being played, they will always stand at attention and face the American Flag if it’s present. When the American Flag passes in review, military personnel will always stand and salute the Flag. When a military member dies in service to his country, an American Flag will cover their casket. At the funeral of a deceased member, that flag will be presented to his/her next of kin. The flag will be folded with the utmost precision and cradled like a new born child until presentation is made. When a hero or great American dies, it’s the flag that’s flown at half staff to signify a nation in mourning.
Throughout history, men have literally sacrificed their lives to keep the American Flag raised during battles. The Flag Bearer was a position of honor and entrusted only to the best and bravest of soldiers.
Medal of Honor recipient, Private Joseph E. Brandle:
During the Civil War, the job of color bearer was one of the most hazardous as well as important duties in the Army. Soldiers looked to the flag for direction and inspiration in battle and the bearer was usually out in front, drawing heavy enemy fire while holding the flag high. On Nov. 16, 1863, regimental color bearer Pvt. Joseph E. Brandle, from the 17th Michigan Infantry, participated in a battle near Lenoire, Tenn. “…Having been twice wounded and the sight of one eye destroyed, he still held to the colors until ordered to the rear by his regimental commander.”
http://www.army.mil/medalofhonor/smith/medal/index.html
What the commenter fails to realize is that the American Flag is the symbol of our nation. That flag represents all that our men and women fight for. It’s the visible representative of the Constitution of the United States and therefore leads our troops into battle, brings them home when they have fallen in battle, and is present when we lay them to rest.
To some people the American Flag is nothing but a brightly colored dish rag. To others it represents all their nation stands for and those who fought and died defending the Constitution while looking to the Flag.
Posted by: BobF at April 17, 2008 02:50 PM
Bob that is awesome, thank you sooooo much for posting this.
Posted by: Wild Thing at April 18, 2008 03:37 AM
President Bush signed a flag and stood on a flag doormat at ground zero. Will you treat him the same? Also, your first picture clearly shows Bennett sitting on a flag. How is he any less guilty from an objective standpoint?
Posted by: greg at April 19, 2008 10:18 AM
I say send the BITCH to china she has know place here in this land
Posted by: Rob Moran at April 23, 2008 12:49 PM
I don't like labels but for this forum I will describe myself as a liberal who believes in personal self expression. But this display is an insult to the people who have died trying to prevent the flag from being grounded. Yes, the flag is a symbol of this country, but a very highly respected symbol recognized and representative of the United States of America. If this is art then artists are reaching new lows of expression.
Posted by: Lee at April 23, 2008 01:32 PM
I'm so proud of Charles Bennett! He needs to receive a medal or some type of commendation. We as Americans need to get some of these young people into the military, and see how they would feel if someone pulled a stunt with our great flag. Class project or not, the instructor was wrong for giving permission for such a project, and shame on the student. Maybe they would appreciate the freedom that has been given to us. Hats off to Charles!
Posted by: Stephanie at April 23, 2008 03:04 PM
