by Sara Russo

Organizers of a Day of Remembrance memorial for September 11 victims at publicly-funded University of California-Berkeley originally refused to distribute red, white and blue ribbons to participants or allow the singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America" on the grounds that these gestures were "too patriotic" and might offend attending students. Facing an immense backlash, University Chancellor Robert Berdahl reversed the organizers' decision, ordered the tri-colored ribbons, and permitted patriotic songs, though anti-American sentiments remained.

Student event organizers at Berkeley had originally planned to distribute only white ribbons at the event, rather than patriotic red, white and blue ones. Questioned as to the reason why white ribbons were ordered initially, student event organizers and Berdahl gave conflicting accounts. Berdahl claimed that the white ribbons had been ordered because they are cheaper than multi-colored ribbons, but students on campus, even those in favor of ordering only white ribbons, said that cost had nothing to do with the decision to exclude patriotic colors.

"The student leaders were involved with the program, particularly the program from 12:30 to 1:00 [on Sproul Plaza], so they had their own discussions about how they wanted that to unfold," University spokeswoman Janet Gilmore told Campus Report. "Once the chancellor became aware of the situation with the ribbons, and his understanding as it was communicated to him, was that it was a matter of red, white and blue ribbons being more expensive than the white ones. So he agreed to pick up the cost to provide red, white, and blue ribbons, and that's what happened."

"It's true that [white ribbons] are cheaper," said Graduate Assembly president Jessica Quindel, one of the students responsible for planning the memorial, "but I was at the meetings, and the decisions had nothing to do with the prices."

"We thought that [red, white and blue ribbons] may just be too political, too patriotic," commented Hazel Wong, the chief organizer for the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC). "We didn't want anything too centered on nationalism, anything that is 'Go USA.'"

Jessica Quindel echoed Wong's reaction. "We are trying to stay away from supporting Bush," she said. "We don't want to isolate people on this campus who disagree with the reaction to September 11." For this reason, Quindel noted, the memorial would not feature a single patriotic song, nor would it include a tribute to the American flag. "The flag has become a symbol of U.S. aggression towards other countries," she commented. "It seems hostile."

"Jessica [Quindel] does not speak for the University. I speak for the University," insisted Berdahl. "[Red, white and blue] ribbons don't offend anyone."

Berdahl stepped into the decision-making process only after an article published in the conservative student newspaper, The California Patriot, made national headlines describing Berkeley's planned memorial, which had been stripped of all patriotic content. The University received a deluge of mail criticizing the proposed plans. Berdahl vehemently attacked the Patriot article, saying it consisted of "outrageous allegations" and claiming that the Patriot was "trying to turn this into a political event."

When asked what specifically in the article was incorrect, University spokeswoman Janet Gilmore could not cite any specific examples. "I can tell you that the gist of the article grossly misrepresented the events as they were planned for that day," she told Campus Report. "There was no ban or no concerted effort to ban patriotism on the campus. So the article, the way that it was put together, totally distorted what the plans were for the day."

"We never said that they were trying to ban patriotism. What we said was that the main organizers of the event were trying to get away from patriotism, because they felt that patriotism was divisive," Patriot editor-in-chief James Gallagher explained to Campus Report. "[The organizers] were saying, 'we want the overall environment to be non-patriotic. So if we want to have ribbons they should be white. If we want to have music, we should probably stay away from too patriotic of a song because that might offend somebody.' Those are the things that they were saying….It seems they were letting their ideology get in the way of what should be a memorial."

"We printed this story because it is newsworthy and pertinent to all Americans," Gallagher noted. "The fact that local and national media outlets have picked up the story is proof of its relevance. Are those media outlets trying to advance political purposes too?"

Students charged with organizing the event also received large numbers of angry e-mails, disparaging the event planners for their lack of patriotism, and suggesting that they emigrate to another nation. The Patriot urged readers to withhold their venom.

Despite Berdahl's claim that patriotic ribbons "don't offend anyone," many students on campus disagreed. One group of students attended the noon memorial on Sproul Plaza wearing black clothing and white ribbons, claiming that their manner of dress indicated they were mourning the solemn anniversary in a more "inclusive" way. "We completely agree with a non-political commemoration of the day," said one of the students, Mary Boktor. "We opted to wear black and wear white ribbons to promote an inclusive commemoration of the victims of Sept. 11 as well as the victims of hate crimes and innocent civilians in Afghanistan," she explained.

Another cadre of two dozen students participated in the event by wearing black t-shirts inscribed with the legend, "Our grief is not a cry for war." They also held up blue banners with a picture of the Earth. "We need to understand that victims from 9/11 are from all over, and if we wrap ourselves in flags and glorify the flag, that inadvertently disallows remembrance for all people's suffering," proclaimed one student in the group.

The memorial was further marred by anti-American sentiments and actions. The California Patriot reports that the American flag was less prominently featured than the flag of the United Nations and that it fell to the ground twice during the memorial as a result of a faulty stand. Not only did the university choir not sing a single patriotic song, but one vocalist was forced by the choir director to remove his necktie featuring the stars and stripes before being allowed to go onstage. And though the Star Spangled Banner was played at the memorial, a man interrupted the national anthem, shouting, "Cut this national crap already."

"This is the first I've ever heard that," spokesperson Gilmore commented on these attempts to stifle patriotism.

"Why did they have the faulty stand for the American flag? Why couldn't they have switched it with the United Nations flag that they had up there, or the California flag?" queried Gallagher. "Why is the American flag the one that gets the faulty stand? It's kind of symbolic of Berkeley, in a way. You have three flags up there and the one that gets the worst stand is the American flag."

Student speakers at the noon event, who had been selected in advance by Quindel and ASUC president Jesse Gabriel, used the day of mourning as a soapbox to criticize America and lambast President Bush's policies. Snehal Shingavi, the leader of Berkeley's International Socialist Organization, declared, "Tomorrow, George W. Bush will speak at the U.N. in an attempt to rally support for a war that no one wants….George W. Bush will exploit the memory of September 11th to justify a war in Iraq, just as he did a year ago to justify a war in Afghanistan."

Bret Manley, president of the Berkeley College Republicans, also spoke at the event. "He was able to speak and he got up there and all he did was speak reflectively on 9/11 and what his experience was that day," Gallagher told Campus Report. "He didn't talk about why we should support President Bush's war in Iraq or why we should do some political thing. His was just a personal reflection time, which I thought was very relevant to 9/11."

"The chancellor accused us of trying to politicize the event, and yet when 'our guy' got up there, he didn't talk about politics at all," Gallagher noted. "If anyone politicized the event, it was a guy on the Left, the socialist who had to get up there and talk about why Bush's war on Iraq is wrong, and just going into all these details about foreign policy and stuff. It really begs the question, who really politicized this event, was it us, or was it others? Because we definitely didn't."

One facet of the memorial featured a long sheet of paper that was laid out for students to write messages and comments. While most of the sentiments expressed were remembrances of the victims, and reflections on the importance of the date, some students blamed the president for the attacks, writing comments such as "Bush did it," and "Bush Knew!"

Red, white and blue weren't entirely sidelined during the memorial, thanks in large part to members of the Berkeley College Republicans, who handed out 2,000 American flags at the event, and to the staff of the California Patriot, whose journalism forced the administration's hand.

"There's no way that I can say what it would have been like had we not broken the story, but my impression was that they were trying to stay away from patriotic themes," mused Gallagher. "There might have been an American flag up there, but that would have been the extent of it. That would have been the extent of any real patriotic memorial."