Framingham State Investigating Confederate Flag Complaint

Framingham State University received a complaint that a student on campus was displaying the confederate flag on a laptop.

This is the third complaint of to the University’s Bias Team, since the school year began.

The University sent out an email to students about the latest incident, informing them the University’s Bias Protocol and Response Team was investigating.

According to the Nov. 19 email from the University’s Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Sean Huddleston, the confederate flag incident is “unrelated” to a bias incident report filed last month “for a similar issue” involving a student in a dorm.

In the latest email to students, Huddleston wrote while some see the Confederate flag as a “symbol of shared southern heritage and in memory of the Civil War,” many others see the the flag as an “inflammatory symbol of oppression and a constant reminder of a dark period in the history of the United States in which slavery was a legal, accepted and desired practice.”

The University’s Chief Diversity Officer said Confederate symbols, inclucing the flag, are “not condoned by Framingham State University, as they violate the core values of our institution.”

The Flag does not fit with the University’s policy to ”maintain a safe, respectful and welcoming campus community for all.”

A bias incident on the University’s campus is one that does not fit the university’s policy, but may not be a criminal issue.

Last school year, in April a Swastika was found on the campus of the university.The hate symbol was etched into the side of a vehicle.