At the village student housing, Piedmont students have hung banners outside of their balconies for years. Whether it was a banner to celebrate a championship victory in athletics, a flag representing a holiday or a birthday banner, students have enjoyed celebrating the things they care about in banner form.
On Wednesday morning, flags were raised as many students showed their support for the recently elected 47th president of the United States, Donald Trump. Flags included statements such as “Trump 2024” and “Make America Great Again,” which are common slogans used during the Trump campaign.
By the evening, all of the banners, election-related or not, had been removed without a word to students living in the village.
“Our Trump flag was missing within a small window when we were last outside our room,” said senior village resident Megan Steinmeyer. “A student had taken a political sign that did not belong to them the night before, which caused us to believe that someone stole our flags out of anger.”
The following day, village residents received an email from Piedmont Residence Life announcing that students could retrieve their banners with the understanding that they were not to be hung on the village railings. Residence Life claimed that they did not initially notify students not to disturb their study or sleep.
Included in the email was a reminder of the 2024-2025 Student Handbook Code of Conduct:
“Defacing property by hanging or exhibiting unauthorized things from windows or any other location outside of the residence hall, or by attaching any unauthorized TV cable or outside.”
Residence Life went on to address the surprise caused by this sudden action, as banners had never been questioned in the past. It was also said that the content of the banners was not considered in the decision to remove them.
“We were very upset because signs from baseball have been displayed over the balcony for a few years now, so we felt targeted by our political beliefs, considering this rule was now being enforced the day after the election,” said Steinmeyer.
The delayed application of the code of conduct was frustrating to students, as it has been overlooked for many students’ time at Piedmont, no matter the manner of the banners. Due to the lack of enforcement and awareness of residence life, students never thought there was an issue with hanging their banners and flags.
Residence Life will continue to monitor the appearance of the residence halls as well as the safety of the students.For updates on student housing policies, go to www.piedmontroar.com or be aware of inbound emails from residence life.
