Student says New York university forced him to remove Confederate flag

A student from the University of Rochester claims that the school violates his First Amendments rights by telling him to remove a Confederate flag from his dorm room window. Matthew Papay, a sophomore of the university puts a Confederate flag on his dorm room window but the residence hall advisor Catherine Christian told him to remove the flag because it offenses some people. Papay argues that “the school is blatantly ignoring my rights to express the cultural identity I choose to identify with, even though the school prides itself on how ‘culturally diverse’ it is.” As a rebuttal of Papay’s claim, Christian wrote an email to Papay that “it should not be in the window because of the discomfort it is causing people and because it does not necessarily represent the heritage of the whole house.” Consequently, their arguments sparkled a whole school debate on a Rochester University class of 2017 Facebook page. Some comments from Facebook page argues that the Confederate flag is closely related to moral issues about African Americans. Papay says that he will not put the flag up if it offends some specific people, but he emphasizes that he has right to express his ideas according to his First Amendment rights. I think the freedom of speech protects citizens’ expression from being prohibited. However, it is uneasy to tell that freedom of speech should protect some ethically offensive expressions like hanging a Confederate flag on window.

Student says New York university forced him to remove Confederate flag