Caius students have approved a proposed flag policy that would ban votes on the flying of national and territorial flags from the College flagpole, following an open meeting on Wednesday (29/1).

Under the new policy, students would retain the right to vote on flying the Progress Pride flag on the first day of LGBT+ History Month (February) and first day of LGBT+ Pride Month (June). A third of current Caius students would have to vote in favour, in order for the Progress Pride flag to be flown on both occasions.

However, proposals to fly a flag other than the Union flag or the Caius flag would require an initial petition with 100 signatures from current Caius students, the same number of signatures required to amend the Gonville and Caius Student Union (GCSU) constitution.

The proposals would also prevent more than one Student Flag being approved each academic year, and would limit the total annual number of Student Flag days to six.

Flag flying has been a contentious issue at Caius, after the College came under scrutiny in 2022 for taking down the Progress Pride flag two days into LGBT+ History Month. The College later backtracked on this decision, after an open letter from the GCSU was signed by hundreds of students and staff, including the Senior Tutor.

The College also faced criticism for not flying the Pride flag in 2023, after it did not receive the necessary number of votes to meet the minimum threshold.

Last Easter, the Caius’ Council adopted the policy that flags of territories in active conflict zones could not be flown. This comes in response to previous difficulties getting the fellowship to approve flags that were not seen as ‘politically neutral’ enough.

The GCSU president, Oscar Poulson, explained at Wednesday’s open meeting that the decision to review the College’s Flag Policy was largely a result of the controversy sparked by the student body’s decision to approve flying the Tibetan flag from the College flagpole after the a Student Flag day vote in Michaelmas. This decision was overturned by the College.

However, the MCR President, Tejas Rao, said that the ban was not targeted at any specific flag.

Rao also explained that another factor taken into consideration was that city council approval is required for any flag other than the Union Jack, the regular Pride flag, and the College flag.

According to the UK government website, flags which do not need consent to be flown include “any country’s national flag, civil ensign or civil air sign”, the flag of Saint David, the flag of Saint Patrick, and “the flag of any administrative area within any country outside the United Kingdom”.

Flags which do not require consent, provided they comply with certain restrictions, include “house flag[s]” and the rainbow flag.

The proposed Flag Policy was described to attendees of the meeting as a “compromise” that had been reached with the Fellows, whereby it was implied that the flying of the Progress Pride Flag would only be possible if national and territorial flags were banned from being flown on the College flagpole.

Among Fellows’ concerns is reportedly that the Student Flag Days have caused division among the College community. It was also noted by Poulson that there is a “large number” of Fellows who do not want any flags other than that of Caius to be flown.

That flags will have to receive 100 nominations before they can be voted upon was also described as a “compromise” though Rao added that he believes it to be an achievable figure.

Representatives of both the GCSU and the MCR expressed concerns that, were the proposal to be rejected by Wednesday’s open meeting attendees, Fellows might abolish the Student Flag Days altogether.

27 attendees of the open meeting voted in favour of approving the proposal, 10 voted against, and two abstained. The result of the vote will now be fed back to the working group and the College Council.

A Gonville & Caius College spokesperson said: “We do not comment on any ongoing review of policy.”