According to The Sacramento Bee, the student senate at the University of California, Davis has ruled that flying the American flag at meetings is now optional since some view the flag as offensive.

The previous law that required the flag to fly at every meeting has been amended to include a 24-hour period wherein a petition must be signed before the flag can be on display. At that time, the senate pro tem has the ultimate authority in deciding if the flag flies or doesn’t.

The resolution gives the reason behind the amendment: “[T]he concept of United States of America and patriotism is different for every individual, it should not be compulsory that the flag is in view at all times during Senate meetings.”

The student who introduced the legislation, Jose Antonio Meneses, said he wanted to follow federal law which doesn’t mandate flying the flag. The move was also non-political, he said:

“It wasn’t political in any way, but because it is the United States flag ... it’s a touchy subject to talk about. We want to make sure we are not sued…

“The opinion in that case is that you can’t force people to pledge your allegiance, by (the flag) being there; by extension, you are pledging your allegiance to a symbol that you don’t relate to or that you don’t equate yourself with.”

Michael Gofman, a student senator who opposed Meneses’s bill, said, “It was a purely political issue from the start,” and added that all U.S. government bodies display the flag without apology.

Yet, Meneses maintains the decision is “not a ban on the flag.” During his two years on the student senate, he claims the flag has never been on display and no one has said anything about it until now.

Gofman says he “was shocked and embarrassed” to learn there was a law in place that made displaying the flag mandatory but wasn’t being followed. He wants to introduce a proposal that would allow student senators to bring their own U.S. flag for display.

“I have a much closer connection to places outside of America,” Gofman said. “I understand what the alternative looks like. I don’t think members of the senate know what it is like to live in a totalitarian country.”