On April 15, an “artist” at the University of Maine at Farmington showed complete disrespect for the American flag when she sprawled five large American flags and several hundred smaller American flags in the student center.

The administration refused to put an end to the display but defended the artist and threatened a member of the American Legion, telling him if he lifted the flag – for which he fought for in Vietnam – he would be removed from the student center.

I feel that a line needs to be drawn when the flag that thousands of people died for is thrown on the ground and marched on by disrespectful professors and students. The provost of our college was videotaped telling the veteran that he didn’t fight in Vietnam for “a piece of cloth.”

I was bothered that the college administration believes that our nation’s flag is a mere piece of cloth. As a student of UMF, I was extremely disturbed and bothered by the way that the administration handled the situation. For the first time in my time here at UMF, I was ashamed of being a student.

Apparently, I was not the only one who was bothered by this situation. A mother walking through the center with an accepted students day tour broke away from the tour and exclaimed, “My son will not be coming here,” when confronted with the reality that UMF doesn’t respect the flag.

Ryan Michaud, Sabattus