More on the Vietnames flag protest

A brief video of IVC's SSC flag issue:

.....It turns out, OC Reg reporters read Dissent. Marlo Jo Fisher has been working on the “flag” story today, and, well, here it is:

Vietnamese flag removed at Irvine Valley College:

.....Irvine Valley College officials have removed a colorful flag display in the atrium of the student center here, after threats of a large-scale protest from the local expatriate Vietnamese community over the flag depicting the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
.....The 144 miniature flags have hung from the second floor atrium for many years without controversy, in a gesture designed to symbolize the diversity of its student body.
.....On Thursday, college officials removed the display that has hung for a decade, in the wake of threats that busloads of protesters could arrive to disrupt the campus, if the Vietnamese flag were not removed.
....."We wanted to be considerate and represent the diverse population at IVC," campus spokeswoman Diane Oaks said Monday. "We are developing an alternate method of expression."
.....Westminster Councilman Andy Quash and Garden Grove Councilwoman Dina Nguyen said they met with college officials on Wednesday, after receiving calls from numerous constituents about the flag display.
....."We reminded them that in 1999, in the city of Westminster, that flag hung in a video store led to a 49-day protest peaking at 50,000 people," Quash said. "I'm sure the college hung the flag without realizing it is very provocative to certain students."
.....Nearly two months of protests in early 1999 were ignited after a video store owner put up a Socialist Republic of Vietnam flag and a poster of Ho Chi Minh in his window.
.....Thousands of protesters demonstrated between January and March over the issue, which led to court battles over the owner's right to display the symbols even though they were causing a public disturbance.
.....Nearly 5 percent of IVC's students are Vietnamese-American, Oaks said.
.....Nguyen said she had been contacted by several constituents, and she agreed with them that the flag should come down.
....."It's offensive because this flag represents a regime that is very dictatorial and does not respect human rights," Nguyen said. "It is not democratic, and that is why a lot of Vietnamese Americans are here as refugees. To see that being honored, well, millions of people lost their lives over that flag."
.....College officials decided to remove all the flags, instead of merely the Vietnamese one, because of safety concerns. Occasionally, she said, students will swipe the flags, and the college was concerned about the safety of students leaning over a second-floor atrium wall to filch them.
.....The flags, initially purchased a decade ago by the student government, are in storage, Oaks said.
.....Student government vice president Matthew Contorelli, 23, said no one had notified him that the flags were being removed, but he supported the decision in retrospect.
....."It's the best way to keep a peaceful environment," Contorelli said.
.....Downstairs, in the college cafeteria, biology student Robert Fuller said he hadn't noticed the flags missing, but he would have left them up.
....."It's sort of bland out there now, when it was so colorful before," Fuller said about the two-story gray atrium.