COLOMBIA – After a dispute over years over whether The Citadel can legally remove a Confederate flag hanging from a chapel on campus, a South Carolina lawmaker is proposing that the General Assembly clarify the law that prevents it from falling.
The Citadel Visitors Council voted 9-3 in 2015 to take down a Confederate naval monkey from Summerall Chapel, but an opinion by state attorney general Alan Wilson the previous year said the flag is protected by the State Heritage Act.
This 2000 law prohibits the removal of public property from flags or memorials for any war, historic figure or event without a two-thirds vote in the legislature.
State Sen. Dick Harpootlian, D-Columbia, filed a resolution on March 2 that, if passed, would declare that the citadel confederation’s navy monkey does not fall within the scope of the Heritage Act, which would allow the college to overthrow it.
The resolution says that the flag, which was presented to the Citadel in 1939, is “displayed in the chapel, not on top of the State House or on the premises of the State House; it is not a monument or memorial to any of the wars identified in the Law of Heritage, and is not public property with the name of a person or historic event. “
This would instruct The Citadel to immediately remove the flag and dispose of it in whatever way the school’s visitor council chooses, as long as it is not displayed anywhere else on campus.
“I find this particularly offensive to have the Confederate naval ape in the chapel of the Citadel, where an African American cadet would have to look at him while praying to God,” said Harpootlian. “This is beyond pale.”
The proposal is likely to find a skeptical audience in the Republican-dominated legislature, where lawmakers have feared dropping more flags or monuments since their 2015 decision to remove the Confederacy flag from the state building after the shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
SC Judiciary Committee Chairman Chris Murphy, a Republican from North Charleston who graduated from The Citadel in 1990, said he would oppose the Harpootlian resolution and does not believe the flag should be withdrawn because he sees it as a matter of historical recognition.
“This problem arises at least once a year, but I believe that the placement of the flag is appropriate and should be in the Summerall Chapel,” said Murphy.
Another Citadel graduate in the legislature, state senator Stephen Goldfinch, said he understands the desire to remove the flag because “it caused a major crisis among alumni, legislators and state leaders, taking our eyes off the real ball, which is to educate leaders with principles. “
But Goldfinch, R-Murrells Inlet, said his personal opinion of the flag is not relevant to Harpootlian’s proposal because he thinks the legislature should not be involved in legal issues that should be resolved by the attorney general or the courts.
“I don’t know how this is not a crossing of government lines that should not be crossed, declaring that an interpretation of the law is constitutional or not,” said Goldfinch. “The courts are the final arbitrators of that decision, so I think it should be left to the court if anyone wants to raise this issue.”
For the time being, it seems unlikely that the issue will end in court, as The Citadel refused to contradict Wilson’s advisory opinion, dropping the flag and forcing a legal dispute.
Colonel John Dorrian, a college spokesman, said that one of the Citadel’s fundamental values is the duty to comply with the law.
“The South Carolina attorney general previously stated that the college was following state law in treating the flag as a memorial that falls under the Heritage Act,” said Dorrian. “If the law changes, The Citadel will act accordingly.
“Citadel leaders cannot demand that our cadets follow all the strict rules and regulations inherent in the cadets’ lives, but also choose which laws we will follow and which we will not,” added Dorrian.
Follow Jamie Lovegrove on Twitter @jslovegrove.