Another idiot art project! American Flags on the floor...

[RocketFoot]

http://www.dailybulldog.com/stories/UMF_flags.html

A Maine college student has caused a firestorm after plastering the floor of a campus building with American flags to see if anyone would trample Old Glory.

Susan Crane, a student at the University of Maine, Farmington, placed hundreds of flags on the floor of the school's student center Tuesday for an art class assignment. She set down the flags in a maze-like pattern to document whether students and staff would step on them.

But instead of fostering dialogue, the experiment drew demonstrators, among them Vietnam War veteran Charles Bennett.

"As far as I was concerned, that was desecration of the American flag," Bennett told FOXNews.com. He went down to the student center to protest the display after a friend told him what was going on, he said.

Bennett was among a vocal group that protested the treatment of the Stars and Stripes.

Crane did not return a request for an interview, but she told the Franklin County Daily Bulldog that she chose to use the flag so passers-by could reflect on their patriotism.
It sparked conversation and thought about how we feel about our flag, which I think is very important," Crane told the paper. "It was a very hard thing for me to do, to put the flag on the floor."

She said she filmed students from the knees down to see if they would walk on the flags. More than 95 percent did not.

"The strong emotions caught me by surprise. The veterans said, 'A lot of people died for that flag,'" Crane told the paper. "I had a hard time with it. Most others asked, 'What's this about?'"

The university gave Crane permission to arrange the project, which she designed to fulfill a requirement for her class, the Cultural Relationship of Art and the Personal Politic.

Bennett said he was irritated that the school permitted the project at all. He planned a protest for Thursday afternoon.

"It's a patriotic feeling that I have," he said. "That's what I fought for — for our freedoms — so they could do things, but don't do it with the American flag."

The school expected the project would cause a stir.

"Certainly passions are always swirling around the flag," said Celeste Branham, vice president of student and community services at the university. "Particularly in a time when there's a lot of controversy about our involvement in Iraq, we expected that the passions would be heightened, and we were not at all surprised by the reaction."

Branham said it's the role of a university to spark debate as part of the learning process.

The project was supposed to stay up for 24 hours, but the flags were removed 10 hours into the experiment after a fire marshal asked Crane to move them to the side of the hallway, the Daily Bulldog said.

Branham said the school wouldn't hesitate to allow the project to go on again.

"We were supporting and would continue to support any student's First Amendment right to free expression under the law," she said.

[jerkin]

I hope she gets an F on the project for being disrespectful. It is refreshing to see that at least 95% of the college students have a little class though and would not step on the flag. Don't know what to say about the other 5%. Good find, hadn't seen this one anywhere.

[DCChris]

How 'bout we fasten her to the floor and see how she does?

[NineseveN]

I hope she gets an F on the project for being disrespectful.

I'd personally be inclined to grade her on the actual merit, presentation and findings of the project and not someone else's over-hyped sense of sensibility. It's actually not a bad idea for an Art in Politics class, the exhibit raised some interesting reactions which probably do indeed fall along various political divides.

[phillyshooter]

I'd personally be inclined to grade her on the actual merit, presentation and findings of the project and not someone else's over-hyped sense of sensibility. It's actually not a bad idea for an Art in Politics class, the exhibit raised some interesting reactions which probably do indeed fall along various political divides.

I agree. She meant no disrespect to the flag or the men and women who died for it. It's a shame people can't think outside of the box and look at this project in the way it was intended, to see how people would react and what they would do in the situation.

[RocketFoot]

I tend to agree...the story made the student out to almost regret the project and she even discontinued it early. Plus the flags were not real but made out of duct tape. I'd say it was not tasteful, but not anti-American either.

[LorDiego01]

Can't we settle this one as "property rights"?

If you bought your piece of cloth, made in China to resemble the U.S. Flag, then you should be able to have the FREEDOM to do anything you want with it. So long as you are its right-full owner....

I'd give the student an A+ just for making the news.

[D-FENS]

made in China to resemble the U.S. Flag

Beat me to it.

+1

[larrymeyer]

Branham said the school wouldn't hesitate to allow the project to go on again.

"We were supporting and would continue to support any student's First Amendment right to free expression under the law," she said.

I wonder if they allow student's their Second Amendments rights and allow them to carry gun's on campus ????? Any Bet's on this I bet it's no guns allowed

[Garpman]

I read about this on another forum. It was exactly that, an experiment to see who had enough sense not to step on it.

The student's father is in fact a veteran, and he helped her put the flags on the ground, and pick them up when she was done with it.