Photo courtesy of Emma Bridegam
By Canela Vasquez
At USF St. Petersburg student government’s (SG) second annual student town hall on Feb. 4, students voiced various concerns to regional chancellor Christian Hardigree and a panel of administrators. One of those issues was the removal of identity flags from the University Student Center (USC) last July.
“If you can have a flag that says ‘seen, valued, herd’ on it, why can’t you have flags that make people feel it?” said junior biology major Norah “Nerey” Nunez.
Hardigree stated that the flags will not return to the USC while Florida bill, SB 100, is being discussed by state legislature. The pending bill would restrict flags that represent “political viewpoints, including a politically partisan, racial, sexual orientation, gender, or political ideology viewpoint,” from being displayed at government and public school buildings.
This bill failed to pass during the 2024 legislative session and was reintroduced in January, leaving students confused about the reason why the flags haven’t been reinstated.
“The flags are very much a comfort on this campus. Especially because it’s a predominantly White institution, it’s nice to see everybody that’s represented,” Nunez said.
“Having that representation there was really important,” said SG governor Elise Prophete. “Not just the physical action of taking down those flags, but the symbolic action of suppressing those minority voices, suppressing those international voices, those queer voices that are already under attack in Florida.”
On July 14, USC staff was mandated to remove all flags from the building. According to the USF St. Petersburg Black Student Association’s (BSA) Instagram, the Black Lives Matter, Pride, and Pan-African flags were removed from the USC on July 16. In the following days, an update post stating that all of the remaining flags were removed, urged students to “review current and upcoming USF policies and engage in public comment.”
On July 18 USF St. Petersburg College Democrats followed suit by releasing a statement claiming that the remaining flags were removed due to the backlash the university received after the first three flags were taken down.
According to junior digital communications and multimedia journalism student, Alisha Durosier, BSA made and planned to hold signs calling for the flags’ reinstatement at the monthly campus board meeting on Aug. 1. Upon arrival, University Police Department officers prohibited the group from bringing the signs into the USC ballroom.
The organization believed that it would be able to make a statement regarding the flags, but there was no time given for public comment.
SG also intended to speak out against the flags removal at the campus board meeting but were specifically told not to. It is unclear to Prophete who gave the order.
All information regarding the flags was removed from the USC website, along with the slideshow that played in the building displaying what each flag represented.
A “#SEEN, VALUED, HERD” banner was hung as a replacement for the flags.
USF spokesperson Carrie O’Brion told WUSF that the removal of the flags was due to both a complaint from a visitor and upcoming renovations of the USC. O’Brion also said the university would “convene a group of students, faculty, and staff to solicit their input on all aspects of the renovation during the fall semester.”
As of this month, there has been no council assembled for the review of the flags and no renovations to the USC.
In a statement to The Crow’s Nest, O’Brion stated that due to the damage from hurricanes Helene and Milton, focus was shifted to repairing other facilities. However, there are, “plans to establish a committee of faculty, staff and students to gather their input on the design,” this March.
However, Hardigree asserted during the student town hall that since the university is federally funded, “we are going to follow the laws of the state of Florida and the United States. That is what we as a state institution are required to do.”
Though the legislation banning certain flags is on the Florida senate floor, it has not been passed and won’t be considered for vote until March.
Prophete believes it is alarming that the chancellor would enact unpassed legislation.
“Saying that this policy which hasn’t been passed in the past, and hasn’t been passed right now, but is still under review, and taking that as law is dangerous,” she said.
The chancellor proclaimed that students must continue to support each other and be a community. Prophete agreed with this sentiment and reassured that SG will continue to advocate for student representation.
“Our community is diverse,” said Prophete. “It is queer, it is Black, it is based off immigrants, and we need to continue to reflect that and continue to highlight that because that’s what makes St. Pete, St. Pete.”
This story has been updated with information regarding the reason the identity flags will not be put back up. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that USF St. Petersburg regional chancellor Christian Hardigree cited SB 100 as the reason for the flags’ initial removal.
