When the College Republicans of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse decided to display flags in the shape of a cross at a Sept. 11 memorial last week, they did not expect to receive negative feedback.
According to Michael Slevin, UW-La Crosse student service coordinator, the university has received several complaints about the display’s cross design, which was removed Wednesday night. Complaints stated the display did not symbolize all who perished in the attack because only one religion — Christianity — was represented.
“I felt it was a respect issue,” Slevin said. “If there were people who took offense to the cross, I respect their opinion that they are offended. I understand why.”
Slevin said after he received the complaints Friday, he relayed the message to the College Republicans, suggesting they redistribute the flags to depict a more inclusive message. However, members of the College Republicans said they would not change the display.
UW-La Crosse Chancellor Joe Gow said while the university did not agree to only acknowledge one religion in conjunction with Sept. 11, they could not have prohibited it.
“We allow people to have free speech on university property. We cannot dictate what they can say unless someone thought it was obscene or if it created a clear and present danger,” Gow said. “They have been very reasonable. That is their right to do that.”
According to Andy Matz, chair of UW-La Crosse College Republicans, this is not the first year the memorial was displayed in the form of a cross.
“This is the first year we’ve heard complaints,” Matz said. “We want to be able to put what we want, but we do not want to offend people. We didn’t mean to exclude people, and we don’t view it as being exclusive of other religions. We put it up as a symbol to represent mourning.”
The College Republicans asked UW-La Crosse to forward any written complaints to them. Matz said he would have been happy to modify the display if individuals had asked him to, but he never received any notices.
“If a different group wanted to put a symbol of their own faith, they could have easily done that,” Matz added. “With the plan that we had put together, we had extra flags.”
While the Sept. 11 memorial at the University of Wisconsin did not depict a cross, Sara Mikolajczak, chair of UW College Republicans, said she also received criticism.
“I received complaints saying that we were trying to politicize 9/11,” Mikolajczak said. “There were a couple people that had commented 9/11 was a hoax, which I brushed off. College Republican groups are going to get criticism no matter what we do.”
Gow said he hopes the issue will be more of an educational experience.
“I think this is very healthy for our students, faculty and staff to talk about these issues and have a good, robust dialogue,” Gow added. “Ultimately, this is a good, teachable moment.”
