The American flag on Chapin Lawn was cut down on Friday morning after it was lowered to half-staff. The flag was lowered in accordance with a gubernatorial order marking the death of Charlie Kirk, a right-wing political activist. The person responsible for the flag’s removal is unknown.
At around 10 a.m. on Friday, an individual cut the rope used to hoist the flag, causing it to fall from half-staff to the ground, according to Alex De Biasio ’28, who was sitting near Chapin Lawn and saw the incident take place. Campus Safety Services (CSS) responded to a call shortly after and arrived once the flag was already on the ground and the individual who removed it was gone, according to Director of CSS Jeff Palmer. De Biasio wrote that the flag was still at the base of the flagpole when CSS arrived.
In a GroupMe screenshot viewed by the Record, an unidentified user sent a message describing a plan to cut down the flag. “It’s fucking crazy that they lowered it because of Charlie Kirk who would rather have many people on this campus dead,” the message read.
Kirk was assassinated last Wednesday while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. In response to his death, President Donald J. Trump issued a proclamation ordering the flag to be flown at half-staff through sunset last Sunday. In accordance with Trump’s proclamation, Massachusetts Governor Maura T. Healey issued the same order to the commonwealth. The governors of some states, such as New York and New Jersey, did not issue a similar order and kept flags at full-staff.
The College follows state mandates about flag status, Chief Communications Officer Meike Kaan told the Record. Facilities receives an email from the Governor’s office with orders to fly the flag at half-staff and follows them, she said. The order is then submitted verbatim to Daily Messages, a practice that began several years ago in response to repeated requests for explanation of the flag’s status.
Kaan added that the College never decides to lower the flag for any reason beside a gubernatorial order, including the death of a community member.
The Minority Coalition (MinCo) hosted an event on Sunday to reflect on the flag’s lowering to half-staff and subsequent removal. “The MinCo Steering Board is deeply concerned about the intended lowering of the flag,” the steering board wrote in a joint statement. “While [Kirk’s] death is a tragic event and we do not condone violence of any kind, we must also acknowledge the deep pain and impact that his statements and ideology have had on many members of our community.”
“MinCo Steering does not tolerate the further platforming of a white supremacist in death, as tragic as their death may be,” the statement continues.
Following the removal of the flag, Liam Carey ’27 hung posters across campus condemning the lowering of the flag to half-staff. These posters featured a photo of Chapin Lawn with the Confederate battle flag edited to replace the American flag. “Admin be like ‘Trump told us to,’” the posters read.
“There was a broad sense of outrage that Williams would choose to honor such a bigot,” Carey wrote in an email to the Record. “They don’t lower the flag when the police murder Black men, for example, so why should they lower it for a Christian nationalist? It came across as an endorsement of Kirk and what he stood for.”
“I made my posters to make fun of Williams and how eager it is to follow Trump’s orders,” Carey continued.
CSS continues to investigate the flag’s removal, and any findings will be provided to the Dean’s Office, Palmer wrote. The Williamstown Police Department is not involved, he added.
