BU president pauses removal of pride flags, reversing position

Boston University will temporarily stop removing public-facing pride flags on campus, according to a university-wide message from its president on Monday.

The pause follows weeks of public backlash by faculty members and others over the administration’s enforcement of a policy it defended as “content neutral.”

In her note Monday, BU President Melissa Gilliam said the university needs “more time and opportunity” to consider the matter.

She also issued an apology: "In the public conversation about Boston University’s time, place, and manner policies, that spotlight has fallen disproportionately on our LGBTQIA+ community, and I have heard how difficult and painful that has been,” Gilliam wrote. “I am deeply sorry.”

BU administrators began removing pride flags mounted to some faculty members' office windows that were visible to outside passersby and in the main space of the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies center, among other places, over spring break.

Their rationale was that flags violated university policy prohibiting any outward-facing sign, poster or flag; they had said the removals were “not an endorsement nor rejection of any point of view.”

The new pause applies to all "outward-facing" signs, according to a BU spokeswoman. She had no further information on how long the pause would last.

Some faculty saw the recent signage enforcement as part of a broader, more widescale effort by the university to clamp down on free speech and expression in the Trump era, pointing to other actions taken by the administration, including discipline around student protest.

Some faculty said they re-hung pride flags in their office windows after they had been removed. That show of solidarity has only intensified in recent weeks, said Keith Vincent, associate professor in the Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies program.

“ There were so many flags up on campus by this point that to take them down would've just been a game of whack-a-mole,” he said, adding that the administration likely realized "this was just not a viable position.”

In her campus-wide message, Gilliam said she heard a “range of perspectives” about the policy. She emphasized the university’s commitment to welcoming its LGBTQIA+ members.

“Issues of speech can be complicated, but our institutional values are not,” she said. She added that LGBTQIA+ students, faculty and staff are “an essential part” of the university and that administrators “remain committed to ensuring all members of this University feel welcome, feel respected, and can thrive.”

Her position marks a shift from her earlier defense of the policy at a forum two and a half weeks ago.

Joseph Harris, associate professor of sociology and co-president of the BU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which petitioned the university to change its signage policy, said while he was “pleased” with the pause on the flag removal, he'd hoped Gilliam's message would have been broader.

“The statement did not address the larger pattern of free speech suppression at BU," he said. "I am concerned that the administration either does not see those issues as important or does not plan to address them."

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