As leaders at UNR looked solemnly on, students cut the stars and stripes into strips and set fire to it on Wednesday in line with federal regulations about how to respectfully retire old American flags.

Vance Kreutz, a Navy veteran and the school’s student manager for veteran services, presided over the ceremony, which is an annual tradition for the university during the week of Veterans Day.

“They're not stored in the dark, out of sight and out of mind,” Kreutz said. “They are, instead, given the proper goodbye through fire and reflection.”

The process aligns with the directions from the U.S. Flag Code, which prescribes rules for honoring the flag and ultimately destroying it “in a dignified way.”