The College is considering changing its policies on lowering the United States flag to half-staff. Currently, the College lowers the flag if the governor of Massachusetts issues an order to do so and does not lower it on any other occasion. Now, the College is reevaluating that policy, according to Chief Communications Officer Meike Kaan.
The review follows significant campus pushback after the College complied with Governor Maura Healey’s order to lower U.S. flags in honor of right-wing pundit Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated two weeks ago.
The flag, while lowered to half-staff, was cut down on Sept. 12. Campus Safety Services (CSS) began an investigation that day, but the identity of the person responsible remains unknown.
The Minority Coalition (MinCo) Steering Board released a statement on Friday criticizing the College’s decision to lower the flag and calling on the College to revisit its longstanding policy of automatic compliance with gubernatorial orders about the flag.
“MinCo Steering does not tolerate the further platforming of a white supremacist in death, as tragic as their death may be,” the statement reads. “Charlie Kirk was a right-wing conservative political commentator whose public platform and rhetoric were well known for making derogatory and harmful statements about several marginalized groups, such as, but not limited to, Queer people, Black people, Jewish people, Muslims, and Palestinians.”
The statement also argued that the decision to lower the flag violated President Maud S. Mandel’s stated priority of institutional neutrality. “As many have noted, the order given by Governor Healy in accordance with the Presidential Proclamation only applies to state buildings and institutions,” it said.
“Because Williams College is a private institution, the order given by the Massachusetts Governor does not apply to it.”
“The College’s lowering the flag at half-staff for the death of Charlie Kirk was equivalent to it taking a political stance in favor of racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia, and transphobia,” the statement continued.
The College’s decision to lower the flag also garnered some national attention in a New York Times op-ed by author and political commentator Masha Gessen, who cited it as “aggressive compliance” to pay “the price of admission to Trump’s America.”
The College has provided no further information about the potential changes to the policy, only that it is currently under review.
