6,300 Sign Petition To Reverse ‘Flagship’ Omit

The University of Idaho’s student body president says more than 6,300 signatures were collected on a petition asking the state Board of Education to reconsider removing the proposed term “flagship” from the school’s updated mission statement.

Samantha Perez implored trustees Wednesday to revisit their decision, prompting a chuckle when noting more people signed the petition than live in Preston – board president Richard Westerberg’s home town.

Westerberg responded, tongue-in-cheek: “We are working on our population.”

Perez and others approached trustees over the “flagship” removal during a board meeting in Moscow. School officials have long used the term “flagship” to brand the university, Idaho’s oldest, but it was only added to a proposed new mission statement last year.

Board members didn’t deem the term appropriate and it was struck in February.