The original idea for a “college community center” came from two students, Warren Daigh and Tony Schille, who were a part of a student organization called the “Gauntlet and Visor.” Both of the men were ex-service men, who helped promote the larger interests of the campus and student body. After an endorsement from the student body at a special convocation held in the fall of 1920, a committee was formed to determine the ways and means by which such a building could be built on this campus. Fundraising continued for the remainder of the decade. Because of the economic conditions of that period, many families who made pledges to the construction of the Memorial Union were forced to send only a small portion of their annual pledge. These families were no less committed to the project and often continued to pay on their pledge until the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Construction began in late summer of 1927 with the first of twelve steel columns poking into the air. The Memorial Union opened its doors on schedule, early in October of 1928 and thousands of students, staff, faculty and alumni toured the massive structure and rejoiced in the culmination of their long-held dreams.

Today, the Memorial Union continues to be a center of campus life and activity. It is a leader among college unions internationally and is respected among peer institutions for its student leadership model, the preservation of its historically significant interior, the dedication of its staff and the creativity of its programs.

The symbolic message:
The flags that hang in this display represent the countries of origin for many of OSU’s International students. Each student has helped to diversify the University with their unique experiences, culture, and personal knowledge. Flags are often viewed as powerful symbols of government, some of which may be out of alignment with our personal values. However, this flag display asks that we look past the governmental symbol and see each flag as a life of an OSU student. It is for that reason that historical flags, no longer representative of governments or countries, continue to hang in the Memorial Union. It is here that the lives of OSU students and their individual contribution to diversifying OSU are commemorated with this display.

The first flags:
The Memorial Union was presented a set of flags during World War II to commemorate those OSU men and women who were serving in the various branches of military service and to recognize the 26 allied nations supporting the United States effort in the war. At the completion of the war, the military flags were retired, but the allied nation flags continued to hang. The students and faculty were interested in watching the flag display grow and decided to add the flags of the founding United Nations member countries, as that entity continued to emerge following World War II. OSU students from the countries representing the United Nation members began writing to their embassies asking for donation of a flag.

An idea grows:
Once the majority of the United Nation member flags were acquired, other OSU International students wanted to see the flags from their countries hanging in the MU. Students from those countries began presenting flags as gifts or wrote letters of request to their embassies asking for a flag donation. A few flags appear to have been given by third parties on behalf of OSU International students from countries not represented in the display. Confirmation of this can be found in recorded gifts from alumni, visiting dignitaries and Corvallis host families who provided housing to International students, as they presented a flag in honor of the student they had known.