This Friday, October 19^th starting at 9 PM is the second After Dark event this term.  All OSU Students are welcome to come to Dixon Recreation Center for a night of fun and food.  This After Dark will feature a Beaver Spirit Party and Dance Competition (starting at 11 PM).  The next After Dark will take place on Friday November 2^nd and will feature a Casino Night (this is also Dads and Family Weekend). The previous After Dark this team on September 28^th had live bands, showed The Avengers movie, along with games. This free event is put on by University Housing and Dining Services (UHDS); Recreational Sports (Recsports) and the Memorial Union’s Student Events and Activities Center (SEAC).  Accommodations for disabilities may be made by calling 541-737-5323.  Keep your eye open for the up coming three After Darks during winter and spring term.  #beBEAVERBOLD

This coming weekend is the annual OSU Moms and Family Weekend, May 4, 5 and 6.  ISOSU’s Spring Fest will happen on Sunday May 6, a great day of cultural food and programs from around the world.  It is free.

Do not miss:

All University Sing

OSU Softball

Free Movis: The Help

Moms Brunch

Art Fesitval

Fashion Show

Comedy Show

OSU Baseball

Hui-O-Hawaii

Spring Fest

and more

You can see the full lists of weekend events on the MUPC webpage, or watch the highlight video: 2012 Moms and Family Weekend

The Memorial Union has long been one of the campus leaders in Recycling.  Join in the America Recycles Day at OSU, Tuesday November 15th.

Each summer the OSU Memorial Union become home to the university’s 2 day new student registration program.  The program includes academic presentation from your college, advisor meetings, and some fun activities.

The New Student Programs and Family Outreach department organizes START and you can register and see the schedule of the program online.

START Dates 2011

June 24: Friday – 8:00 – 9:15am
June 28: Tuesday – 8:00 – 9:15am
June 29: Wednesday – 8:00 – 9:00am
July 8: Friday – 8:00 – 9:15am
July 11: Monday – 8:00 – 9:15am

*This session is our START bilingual program.
July 13: Wednesday – 8:00 – 9:00am
July 15: Friday – 8:00 – 9:15am
July 19: Tuesday – 8:00 – 9:15am
July 22: Friday – 8:00 – 9:15am

July 26: Tuesday – 8:00 – 9:15am
July 29: Friday – 8:00 – 9:00am
August 29: Monday – 8:00 – 9:15am
August 30: Tuesday – 8:00 – 9:00am

Here is a START video, enjoy!

There will be something new at this year’s Snow in the Quad….wakeboarding.  This MUPC event will be held this Friday, May 20^th, in the MU Quad.  In addition to building a ramp and covering it with snow, tanks are being constructed and will be filled with water.  Throughout the afternoon competitions will be held in both areas.  It is free, just show up in the Quad and have a good time.

Snow in the Quad was started several year’s back by MUPC Director Ryan Kirkpatrick.  Since graduation, Ryan has turned the MUPC event into a west coast tour: Campus Rail Jam.

Something that has existed at OSU for more than forty years is ending…and it’s a very good thing in my opinion. The era of campus student program separation on campus is coming to a close and a new unified location for campus programs to share is on its way. If you know OSU history, then you might be aware that in the 1970’s a very difficult decision about space for student union/student activity functions at OSU was reached. It essentially moved all student activity, student government and student media programs out of the Memorial Union and down the hill to a renovated building that was purchased from Housing. That building was known as Snell Hall. It picked up the name “MU East” after the renovation. People have been confused about its identity ever since.

If you ask people at OSU who’ve been around these programs for many years, you are likely to hear both positive and negative effects of separating these out-of-class functions and activities into two locations. From my perspective, the negatives of the separation far out-weigh the positives. With the funding of the SEC construction and the funding of the MU’s East Wing renovation, we now are coming much closer to having a unified site for OSU’s various student funded and student run programs, once again.

Looking around the country, the number of student unions with integrated student activity organizations sharing the union, far out-number those who’ve chosen to put these entities in two or more separate sites. Co-location provides for a sense of student program presence, vitality and active engagement that is far more difficult when locating separately. Students looking to become involved in programs can find program headquarters more easily and collaboration between program units and service units increases.

A shared union site for all programs will bring loads of new opportunities, but it will also require us to serve and think about our roles in very different ways than we’ve been taught to think by living a block apart. To be clear, the complex will be home to many organizations that are co-located, but are not part of a single reporting structure. As we move forward with the programming phase of the construction projects by deciding what goes where, we have an opportunity to think very strategically about how co-location asks that programs complement each other, not compete. This project gives us the opportunity to think about the entire SEC/MU site as a single structure linked by a phenomenal new outdoor covered space that can be used for hundreds of new programs per year. The results of the construction and renovation will bring to OSU students and campus programs new possibilities that we have never dreamed of previously. We are excited to be fully engaged with students at-large and student leaders as we create this amazing new facility complex. We ask that you bring us your ideas and share your perspectives. This is our chance to create something that has been missing from our campus for over forty years….a unified union and campus activity headquarters.