Some send flowers and cards. Others send food and prepared meals. FAU just moves a piece of cloth halfway down a pole.

Whatever you do to respond to a death, FAU shows its respect by lowering the university flag in recognition of students, faculty and staff who pass away. Each time a members of the university community die, FAU spends three days mourning their deaths by flying the flag at half-staff.

The flag, located in front of the administration building on the east side of the Boca campus, stays lowered for whoever the university president wants it to be lowered for, according to a university policy statement.

“The university president may direct the university flag to be flown at half-staff upon the death of a faculty member, staff member, or student of the university,” the statement says. Along with that, students and faculty can get in on the lowering of the flag by merely requesting for it to be done.

While e-mail notifications are sent out to the university community announcing the half-staff lowering, FAU spokeswoman Kristine McGrath says that there isn’t a record of how many people have had the flag lowered because of their deaths.

“[There is] an estimated number of people that have passed away, but no official record,” McGrath says. According to McGrath, though, nearly 14 people in the university community have had the flag lowered in their names since Jan. 1.

The FAU Police Department, which is in charge of the actual lowering of the flag, also doesn’t keep record of how many times they’ve lowered it, but they do know that they’ve had to do it quite a few times.

“There have been several deaths this year,” says Police Chief Charles Lowe. “But I don’t know how many.”

Lowe says once the department is notified to lower the flag, they send an officer out to lower it.

“Usually dispatch takes care of it,” Lowe says. “So I don’t really hear about it [until] after it’s taken care of.”

While neither the FAU administration nor the police department keep record of how many times the flag is lowered, an average of two people have died each month since the year began. If this keeps up, the flag may be lowered up to 72 days in total by the end of the year.