FULLERTON – No international flags will fly during California State University, Fullerton's, graduation ceremonies this month because of objections over one of them: Vietnam's banner.

For the first time since starting the flag-flying tradition seven years ago, the college will not raise the 79 flags representing the countries of foreign students during the May 29-30 ceremonies.

Only the Stars and Stripes, the state flag and the campus colors will fly during the ceremonies, college President Milton A. Gordon said Monday.

Gordon's decision was a response to the campus Vietnamese Students Association's demand that the South Vietnamese banner be included along with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam flag.

The association's members said Vietnam's flag, with a gold star on a red background, doesn't represent them or their parents - many of whom fled the Communist regime after the end of the Vietnam War 29 years ago.

The student group threatened to demonstrate, including walking out of the graduation ceremonies, if the yellow and red-striped South Vietnamese flag was not included.

Laura Lesher, vice president of the Vietnamese student group, hoped the college would fly the South Vietnamese banner beside the other flags.

"I'm kinda disappointed," Lesher said Monday. "I had hoped for a decision other than pulling back and saying, 'Nothing for anybody.'

"(But) we're lucky enough to have a voice. At least they heard us."

The names of the students' homelands will be printed in graduation programs.

"Commencement is one of the most joyous days we celebrate on the campus and we didn't want that marred by any (incident)," Gordon said. "We didn't want to endanger anyone. And we wanted to maintain that feeling of joy and accomplishment that people feel on that day."

Chien Ngoc Bach, a Vietnamese Embassy spokesman in Washington, D.C., was disappointed by the news, saying protests against his country's flag are instigated by a few anti-Communist activists who don't represent the majority of Vietnamese-Americans.

"I really believe (the activists) should not engage in any kind of campaign or movement that would put U.S. officials in a quandary," he said.

While Vietnamese-American students are represented by the U.S. flag, they feel the South Vietnamese banner helps them connect with their parents, said Mike Vu, president of the Union of Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California.

"We can't forget the roots of where we came from and can't forget what our parents went through," he said. "We understand it's America, but there are certain aspects we want to ... hold on to."

The university started flying the flags of its students' homelands in 1997 to recognize the campus's diversity.

Lesher said that last year, the association sent a letter to campus officials, objecting to the Vietnam flag being flown at graduation for the first time. Campus officials discussed the issue with the student group but did not make any changes.

The 8,000 students in the 2004 graduating class include 25 from Vietnam.

The university - which attracts students from as far away as Madagascar and Peru - has 1,965 students of Vietnamese descent among the more than 30,000-member student body.