Rick Taylor’s recent mandate that will put American flags on the uniforms of all Northwestern athletes has been met, for the most part, with enthusiasm and acceptance. The majority of NU athletes seem pleased, proud, or at least willing to present themselves with the stars and stripes on their sleeve.

But when Taylor, NU’s director of athletics, chose how his athletes would express their beliefs, he presented a dilemma for a select group of NU student-athletes: foreigners. Should international students be forced, or even asked, to present the colors of a nation that is not their own?

For some, this isn’t a problem at all. The NU football team includes Canadians Kevin Lawrence and Gilles Lezi, neither of whom is a U.S. citizen. Both have embraced the addition of the flag patch.

“(The terrorist attacks) did happen in the U.S., but they have global repercussions,” Lawrence said. “The thing that’s so scary is that it could have happened anywhere.”

Lawrence believes that the American flag has become an international sign of unity against terrorism, which is why he feels comfortable wearing the patch.

Lezi said that since he represents an American football team, he feels proud to wear the flag.

“This country has adopted me and allowed me to go to school here,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what nationality you are.”

Janjri Jasani, a sophomore on the fencing team, is from Mumbai, India, and is not an American citizen. She voiced discomfort about wearing the flag, but her request for an exception was rejected.

“I’m not going to leave the team,” she said. “That would be silly. After all, it’s just a flag — that’s all it is to me.”

Refusing to wear the flag solely because it is mandatory is a childish reaction to authority. But in cases like Jasani’s, these objections extend beyond the traditional rebellion of youth. It depends on what the flag patch means, an interpretation each individual has to make.

To Lawrence, it’s international brotherhood. To Lezi, it’s harmony. To football coach Randy Walker, it’s the pride of being American.

And all three, whether Canadian or American, used the same word in talking about the flag: unity.

Part of a being a team is just that — presenting a united front. If a majority of the team is in favor of something, shouldn’t the whole team agree to do it? Even Al Gore has accepted George W. Bush’s slim electoral-vote victory.

But this subject may be even more delicate than the 2000 presidential election results, at least on an ideological level. If there is anything that the flag stands for universally, it’s freedom of speech — a law that gives us the right to denounce even the law itself.

NU administrators who continue to force protesting athletes to sport the flag may have to deal with the likes of Walker. He exhibited gallantry of his own on Wednesday, saying he would encourage foreign athletes to wear the flag, but if need be, would “fight for their right to take it off.”

By forcing athletes to wear the flag, NU is displaying an egregious hypocracy. The school musn’t spurn the key principle that the flag represents.