University of Chicago lab school removes LGBTQ pride flag over fear of neutrality
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The University of Chicago (UC) Laboratory Schools, a university-affiliated institution, will no longer fly an LGBTQ pride flag outside its campus after university administrators determined it would violate the institution’s neutrality.
The news was first reported by U-High Midway, the student newspaper of UC Laboratory High School, ahead of Pride Month with a new statement from Interim Director Ethan Bueno de Mesquita explaining the decision on Monday.
“I think that the idea of the student body that ‘We should fly the flag of pride for Pride Month’ is somehow student speech and it should be completely acceptable,” said Bueno de Mesquita. “I think the university is saying that an observer who sees something flying on a flagpole and understands that being an institutional statement is a reasonable explanation of how flagpoles work, and that doesn’t strike me as an unreasonable rule.”
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The University of Chicago (UC) Laboratory Schools has chosen not to fly the LGBTQ pride flag for the first time since 2022. (Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
He added, “To be clear, full membership of LGBTQ+ people in the Lab community is not a controversial issue. It is a core value.”
The decision to remove the flag, which has flown in the same location since 2022, came after administration reviewed whether the LGBTQ pride flag was in line with a report by the University of Chicago’s Kalven Committee on gender neutrality.
“There is no way that it can reach the position of a party without preventing that full freedom of argument where it grows. It cannot insist that all its members are in favor of a certain idea of social policy; if it takes collective action, therefore, it does so at the cost of criticizing any minority that does not agree with the accepted idea. In short, it is the vote of the public that does not have access to public affairs, “which does not have access to the majority of people.
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Regulators found that the LGBTQ pride flag did not comply with the University of Chicago’s Kalven Committee report on gender neutrality. (Getty Images)
It continued, “The neutrality of the university as an institution does not come from a lack of courage or indifference and lack of empathy. It comes from a respect for free inquiry and a responsibility to care for diverse viewpoints.”
Administrators also believe the LGBTQ pride flag violated UC Laboratory Schools’ new policy on neutrality, which was established last month.
“The following standards govern how controversial issues are involved in school situations. They are united by one overarching principle: teachers do not use their authority as adults to direct students toward or away from certain conclusions on controversial issues, explicitly or implicitly,” the guidelines read.
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The University of Chicago’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors disagreed with the decision to remove the pride flag. (Stock)
The University of Chicago’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors criticized the decision in an X post on Monday.
“You see the display of even basic signs that show the dignity of our students would be an unacceptable political situation and a violation of neutrality. It has nothing to do with the nature of the country,” the organization wrote.
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Fox News Digital has reached out to UC Laboratory Schools and the University of Chicago’s American Association of University Professors chapter for comment.
