 During the controversy, California State Senator Janet Nguyen said that the state constitution could be amended to prohibit the banning of the American flag at taxpayer-funded campuses.Numerous professors and students from universities across the state signed a letter of support for the students who passed the resolution, written in response to increasing hostility, death threats, and racial slurs.UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman initially called the vote "outrageous and indefensible", and stated that the campus would install additional flagpoles.