Caius announces that it won’t fly LGBTQ+ flags

Last Wednesday (02/02/2022), the Gonville & Caius College Council announced its decision to fly only the College flag after a recommendation made at its general meeting on 28 January. A statement released by the College claims that “the majority of Fellows in attendance voted in favour of flying only the College flag.”

The College claims that “choosing to fly only the College flag avoids concerns regarding political neutrality and the difficulty of choosing between the plurality of good causes for which a flag could be flown.” It also added that “the College flag is a symbol which unites all in the Caius community.”

On February 1, 2022, the College had flown the Progress Pride flag to mark LGBT History Month 2022. It is no longer flying the Progress Pride flag.

The decision not to fly Pride flags is a break from Caius’ policies in recent years. In 2016, the College first flew the Pride flag – and has since flown the Progress Pride flag six times since February 1, 2021.

The statement seeks to provide an explanation to students and staff “to answer concerns that ceasing to fly these two additional flags is a sign that the Fellowship is less than 100% supportive of equal rights, and equal esteem, for all.”

The College claims that “flying a flag is making a statement” and “the College has no mechanism to establish the collective political stance of its members.” It continued, “the College flagpole should not be used to fly flags to express collective support for political causes.”

Doing so, according to the College, conflicts with its need “to maintain, and to be seen to maintain, a neutral stance on political questions. In an impartial environment, a range of independent political viewpoints can flourish and coexist.”

Image credits: Keira Quirk

It also alleged that “flags flown to express opinions about causes and issues have the potential to divide us” and that “the College flag speaks for all of us. No other flag does.”

Acknowledging that “students will wish publicly to express their own support for causes,” Gonville & Caius College has amended its regulations to allow for “the display of any legal flag, poster etc. in the windows of student rooms, including outward-facing ones.”

It attributed this decision to strike “a fair balance between the freedom of individual students to express their political views and the need for Caius itself, as an educational charity, to remain politically neutral.”

The College noted that “the whole Fellowship is aware that students feel very strongly about this matter” and has thus made an offer to Fellows “to attend a [Gonville and Caius Students Union] meeting to answer questions and hear concerns.”

Feature image credits: Sophie Head