Flag in Graduation ceremony - what would you think?

[whiteroseredrose]

My DD graduated on Saturday. The ceremony is in two parts, first they 'graduate' in groups of the same subject and go outside. They then come back in in larger groups wearing their new hoods attached to the robes. All very pretty with lots of proud parents taking photos.

DD came back in with her friends, lots of clapping and cheers and I took my photos.

In the cohort immediately behind her one graduate came in carrying a full sized Palestinian flag which covered her from head to toe. So the attention switched from the 30 or so new graduates all in black and white to this huge multicoloured flag. There were some cheers and some boos.

Here's my AIBU. I think it was highly inappropriate to steal the moment from all of your classmates. It is everyone's moment of glory and shouldn't be about just one person and their beliefs. I don't think that the University staff should have let her in with it.

Am I being unreasonable?

I'm not making assumptions, I know I'm right. You call that arrogant, I call it having made many observations of Pro Palestine advocates. @HRTQueen I'm not going to debate the merits of the conflict on this thread. As I said, I knew which flag would be in question and I knew the G word would come up. The flag is politically partisan, as would be the Israeli flag. All this was done to death on that dick head Kneecap thread and the inept BBC Glastonbury thread.

ETA: apologies if you are personally affected. That doesn't alter my viewpoint. @findingmypurposeinlife

Oh god the virtue signalling. I wish they’d stop. So sorry this happened, it shouldn’t have been allowed.

DS graduated on friday and there was a free Palestine protest going on outside the building. This was one man banging on what sounded like a saucepan and a drum, and shouting through a loud speaker. We could hear it all through the ceremony. Then a graduate came in with a flag at the end when they come in from outside, and was quickly ushered out by staff.

Not Exeter by the way!

Attention seeking virtue signalling at its finest. Pathetic.

Thank you so much ❤️. I appreciate your kind words. It's been an exceptionally hard graft and I honestly can't believe I have done it. People will always make judgements without knowing the truth. And I get that all the time. I also learned that unfortunately, people do judge - especially on appearance. I now get told that ' you don't look what you have been through' and that's because I have worked hard and been exceptionally hard on myself because I want to challenge the stereotypical viewpoints. And so, when someone sees me with my chosen flag, they can make all the assumptions they want. It has a much deeper meaning to me. 😊

They’re students. I’d be disappointed not to see protests and political activism on a campus - even at graduation.

I was watching my niece’s graduation ceremony from Leeds Beckett University via LiveLink a couple of weeks ago.
One of the students took out a Palestinian flag which had been hidden under her robe as she crossed the stage.
Just made herself look like a very immature, attention seeking idiot to be honest.

I’m always interested by the odd use of ‘virtue signalling’: so it’s best to stay modest and quiet and not cause any trouble to anyone if you want to protest?

I suspect some people would see the suffragettes as virtue signalling; they certainly caused enough embarrassment and awkwardness, but sometimes being embarrassed is a stage in realising that protest is real.

People used to talk about virtue signalling or its equivalent when some were protesting against apartheid in South Africa, refusing to buy goods etc was seen as pointless, but it doesn’t seem like that now.

i started reading the thread thinking oh yes it was a disruption; reading the responses I actually feel more supportive.

More important than any one cause is political pluralism and institutional neutrality.

Which means all flags or none.

Russian nationalists, Israeli ones, Chinese, the lot, all speaking out for their cause and waving their flags. English nationalists, the China-Taiwan wars, Kashmir unpleasantness, who knows, maybe a Confederate flag or two.

You may welcome them all, but I think no flags is a better idea.

Flags or keffiyahs should not be allowed in graduation ceremonies imho.
Whatever your views or polictical persuasion it has nothing to do with getting your degree.
As a Jewish person I wasn't happy seeing (thankfully only 1) graduate wearing a keffiyah at my DC's ceremony. I didnt' clap for her - but clapped for everyone else. There were def Jewish students there as well (one sitting quite near us as we were at the front behind all the graduates). Could tell by name and my 'Jewdar'.

I think spreading the message that so many people feel very strongly about the atrocities in Palestine is more important than a graduate having their ‘moment’ without any other distractions. They have still graduated and a flag does nothing g to take anything away from their achievements or celebrations.

See the post above yours.

No student or their families should be made to feel uncomfortable at their own graduation.

nailed it

Well, yes. But you have to be consistent. It can’t be whatever cause cunning supports is allowed and no other (and I’m sure you weren’t suggesting that). So you’d have to accept pro-apartheid protests too, be fine with extremists calling for Israel-river-to-the-sea if you are fine with their Palestine equivalent. Let alone the thousand other really complex politics around the world that we don’t hear of but which plays out on campus. I can’t see how that is practically workable or desirable, so I think the no-flags-no-protests must be what we all have to put up with for the common good.

I agree. Its one of those (and now I am going to sound old) what if everyone did it? Its the kind of situation where one person's entitlement to free speech doesn't outweigh everyone else's entitlement to have the kind of day they want.

why do your strong feelings about Palestine trump people's feeling about other atrocities around the world? And why would they even trump people's feeling about the Israeli hostages still held and tortured as we speak?

And what about feeling very strongly about the kids in this very country who don't have access to immediate life-saving treatment, who haven't got free school meals during the holidays..

I mean, if we start fighting about causes that we are genuinely concerned about, where do we stop?

Graduations are neither the time nor the place. Show respect to the graduates and campaign for your causes elsewhere.

I would just like to correct you - I never once called you 'arrogant' as was stated. I simply said that assumptions shouldn't be made. And I backed that up with my own experience.
I have not even mentioned Politics in my post!
One thing I also learned from my own experience is that calm is a superpower.

War is brutally violent and unjust. War has many components. And modern day warfare is not just about bombs and guns. Surviving all that is hard enough, but ultimately it will either kill you, break you or you will emerge stronger. I aim to be in that last category.
Anyway, no offence was taken. I understand that people get riled up.

Just not women's rights, abortion rights and rights to healthcare, anti racism etc.

I'm guessing it was planned by the students themselves in which case brilliant

Unreal.

Actually @copperwhite - I should have expanded on my one worded response to you. Great, now let's stick with your idea and try it with a student waving an Israeli flag. Any idea what would happen next?

So do you think as long as someone feels very strongly about anything they can protest at their graduation?
So Just stop oil could come and spray orange paint over everyone else etc? Supremists could do a protest with their flag/banners and you'd applaud?
Or like so many, do you mean 'protests of which I approve"?

I’ve been staff at graduations that are disrupted. I felt proud of the students exercising their freedom of expression. I don’t see how wearing or holding a flag detracts from your child’s experience - and wonder how they felt about it?
also, genuinely, congratulations on their graduation. I hope you had a lovely day despite the ceremony not being what you wanted.

If protests are to be allowed and symbols to be waved (including flags) at graduation ceremonies then every campaign and cause and flag and symbol should be allowed. Freedom of speech on campus!

The end result would be chaos or it might look like a Glastonbury crowd. Either way it really changes the nature of the formal ceremony and I don’t think that’s what the majority want.