Ask Isra Muzaffar ’02 where she's from, and she'll tell you she's a Palestinian. Ask Macalester officials where's she's from, and you’ll likely get mired in U.N. politics.

Muzaffar holds a Jordanian passport, a Jerusalem identification card and Israeli travel documents. Partly for that reason, Macalester officials have denied her request that the Palestinian flag be flown at graduation, alongside the flags of the 189 U.N. member nations.

Muzaffar does not identify herself as a Jordanian, like her passport states, nor is she from Israel, like the college lists.

She lives in Jerusalem, where all citizens are required to have an ID card. If she decided to hold a Palestinian passport, she said her Jerusalem ID card would be confiscated and she would not be permitted back into the city.

At the beginning of this academic year, Muzaffar asked Dean of Students Laurie Hamre if the Palestinian flag would be flown at her graduation. Three weeks later, Hamre replied with a letter, denying her request and saying that no appeal would be possible.

Unfazed by Hamre's letter, Muzaffar highlighted several points that she found problematic in the college's policy on displaying flags. The following month, Muzaffar received a final denial letter from Provost Dan Hornbach, and Dean of International Programming Ahmed Samatar.

Under a section about displaying national flags, the college’s employee handbook states that, “flags displayed at campus events represent international students studying at Macalester College whose countries are recognized with permanent observer status or are members of the United Nations.”

There are 189 U.N. members and 2 countries with permanent observer status, which are Switzerland and the Vatican. Palestine falls under the “Entities and Intergovernmental Organizations” category, which includes Palestine and fifteen other organizations such as the European Community and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

According to Professor of Political Science Andrew Latham, there are three basic criteria used to determine what constitutes a country. A country must hold a territory, practice control over the territory and be legally recognized by other countries. To what extent Palestine is a country is a historical dispute that has resulted from the changes in status during the last year from Palestine Liberation Organization to the Palestinian Authority to Palestine. This is why Palestine’s status remains ambiguous. Muzaffar wants Macalester to recognize her country at graduation, despite Macalester’s policy of following the United Nations’ lead.

“It seems clear to me, if we have a clear policy, we should follow it. The issue here is the policy and not an individual issue.” Hornbach said.

Samatar offered a similar response. “The flag policy is clear,” he said. “I have nothing more to add to this issue.”

Hanin Beidas ’04, another Palestinian student on campus said, “the decision the college has made is disappointing. But it’s not my graduation yet so I am not angry yet. At my graduation, I will do something.” Beidas lives fifteen minutes away from Muzaffar in Jerusalem.

“I respect the decision the college has made,” Muzaffar said. “However, Macalester has brought me here for four years during which I represented my country as a Palestinian. This is my identity. Denying me the right to fly my flag is not respecting one important part of my identity.”

“It’s a reasonable policy, but it’s an unreasonable experience for Isra,” Latham said.