Two weekends ago was Parent’s Weekend here at RPI. It coincided with the campus International Festival held at the student Union. At the event we allowed a multitude of people to come together and celebrate each other’s culture.

I went in with my parents. My mother, father, and I walked around the floor, looking at the various stations and people. Then something was pointed out that I hadn’t noticed.

If you walk into the main room of the student union, you can look up and see the flags of many of the world’s nations hanging, in peace, next to each other. Afghanistan, Puerto Rico, China … and other nations, whose flags very rarely fly in peace. Missing from the flags hanging in the Union is the nation’s flag who allows these other nations to come together in peace.

Where was the American flag in the student Union?

While I understand this festival was meant to be an educational experience for people, I think it reflects poorly that our college doesn’t fly its own nation’s flag. Knowing about the cultures of the world is important for students, but what are we telling them if we don’t even represent our own?

Never before in the lifetime of the current American students has it been more important to remember their country. There’s no crime in reminding the people from other nations, that RPI educates, about American culture. We are the universal host, the universal educator, and there is a reason people come here: to be able to express their ideas and beliefs without fear. What does it say to them when we don’t even care enough about our own culture to put our nation’s symbol next to theirs? We are the United States. Our flag flies above all others. The flag outside the Union flies above the New York and RPI flags, for the same reason it should be flying above other national flags, at least here in the U.S. We are Americans, above all else. This college is American above all else. The student union needs to remember this, regardless of what campus organizations it may offend. If they don’t want the American flag flying above theirs, they’re in the wrong country.

Of course, simply putting the flag in the Union’s main room would be a start. The United States has a right to be included with the cultures of the world. Since it’s our culture, it deserves to be held above the other cultures. The omission of the flag in the Union says something about the college, and it can safely be said that most Americans would agree it’s nothing good. There’s a reason, right now, why flags are flying in yards, on cars, and out of dorm windows.

In the Union, we were flying Afghanistan’s flag, and not our own.

It makes you wonder about our priorities.

Thomas D. Phillips, Jr.