The Danes no longer control the UW-Madison campus, but it was a good run while it lasted. Last Thursday morning the flag of Denmark was flying on the pole high above Bascom Hall, underneath the U.S. and Wisconsin flags. Campus facilities workers couldn’t get it down until Monday.
The flag was rigged with heavy-gauge plastic ties to the pole, and not the flag rope, making it tough to remove. A group calling itself, “The Dane County Danes” has taken credit for the prank. According to Physical Plant director John Harrod, written on the flag was: “In remembrance of our Norwegian cousins in Madison on 17 of May 1957 and to show our support for our American friends.”
Harrod says they had to create a long pole rigged with a cutter to remove the flag.
“Our Danish friends are certainly enterprising,” concedes UW Communications’ Dennis Chaptman. “However, we would have preferred if they would have brought a kringle instead.”