University tells libraries to remove rainbow flag displays

Sydney Morning Herald 17 March 2023

Librarians at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) have been ordered to remove the public display of rainbow flags across campuses, sparking backlash from staff who say the move is “a direct affront to the common good”, write Lucy Carroll and Christopher Harris for The Sydney Morning Herald.

In an email sent late last month, staff were asked not to display rainbow flags and stickers across the institution’s multi-state campus libraries. “It is not considered to be appropriate at ACU. If you have any such material on display in your library could you please remove it from the public area,” the email read.

The directive, sent during WorldPride celebrations, provoked an internal revolt by staff and a group of students who wrote an open letter to ACU Vice-Chancellor Zlatko Skrbis. “When you and your representatives should have been promoting messages of celebration, you have decided to ban pride imagery and instead send a message that LGBTIQ+ people are not welcome at your university,” the letter from LGBTIQ+ societies of ACU read. “The directive sent to staff under your watch is, therefore, a direct affront to ACU’s mission to act in truth and love in the pursuit of knowledge, the dignity of the human person, and the common good.”
Full report on The Sydney Morning Herald site

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