Students Stick to Vow Not to Say Pledge

Despite a second protest by about 45 military veterans and others, student leaders at Saddleback College on Thursday held firm to their policy of holding meetings without the Pledge of Allegiance.

“I don’t think we are being disrespectful for not saying the pledge,” said Michelle Dawson, a member of the Associated Student Government. “In fact, I think we are trying to respect the feelings of everyone in our country.”

Last year, the student government discontinued the practice of reciting the pledge. On Thursday, student leaders unanimously upheld that decision, saying that the pledge alienates atheists, minority groups and foreign students.

The vote came after the protesters defiantly recited the pledge before a standing-room-only crowd, their second such protest in a week. Later, the student panel quietly listened as about 20 veterans, students, professors and city officials, including San Clemente Mayor Steve Apodaca and San Juan Capistrano Councilman David M. Swerdlin, spoke vehemently.

“We are losing the young people in our country. There is a lack of respect for what we all stood for,” said 74-year-old George Grupe, a World War II veteran. “It’s a tragedy of our times that we’ve come to this point.”

But Jeff Haskell, 26, president of the student government, said that anyone who wants to say the pledge can still do so during public comments at the beginning of meetings.

“It gives an opportunity for those people to recite the pledge or say whatever they want to say,” Haskell said.

In the meantime, George Key, 71, of San Clemente, a World War II and Korean War veteran who organized the protests, vowed to continue the fight to reinstate the pledge.

Key said he plans to help push for a campus vote on the issue and will continue to attend meetings of the student government to protest.

“Every agendized public meeting that’s supported by public funds should allow the pledge to be recited,” Key added. “They had it and they took it away, and that’s wrong.”