Alternatives May Be Needed: Here's One
I am sad to say that it looks like the former Hall of Flags may never make it back in its former form. Even if it does, this incident opens up a raft of issues that will eventually destroy it, despite what it really stood for. As one who believes in what it actually stood for - not the politics some ascribed to it - it is my firm belief that, as good engineers who know there is always another solution, it is time to look for alternative means to achieve the same goal. And, as engineers involved in our community (the university in this case), we should find those alternatives, examine them, develop them, and then, when the time comes, present them for public scrutiny.
NOTHING can ever replace the Hall of Flags itself, but as was pointed out by a supporter of the Hall of Flags on www.SaveTheHallOfFlags.com, a flag is just a piece of cloth, with the meaning - or meanings - ascribed to it by its context, which, unfortunately, includes the personal history of the viewer. Because of the complexities of the contextual influences, a symbol can sometimes be misconstrued, as here. That is not the issue on this blog.
The issue on this blog is the examination of a potential restatement of what the Hall stood for. This particular idea originated with one of my students during an ethics discussion in senior design. The student, when challenged to come up with a solution to the problem, suggested the following: a simple topographical world map.
The map itself would only show topography (ie, no national boundaries, no city names, no names of geographical features). He believes (and I concur) that this eliminates the "political" issue from being raised effectively. City locations might or might not be shown. Student origins would be signified by a pin, light or other marker of a standard size and color, and located only by latitude and longitude. The initial rule set would be similar to the Hall of Flags, but would allow us to show much more detail about the sources of our students:
1. To place a marker, any engineering student could request it by supplying the latitude and longitude (or current location name if we can locate it) of either (1) his place of birth; or (2) his place of residence immediately preceding his entry to the US to attend college. This would be required to match the official records, so, for instance, a student born in this country to two Scottish parents could not claim a location in Scotland.
2. If the requested marker could not be placed without overlapping an existing marker, it would not be added - there are practical limits here. This is analogous to "only one flag per country," but ends up, in reality as "only one marker per X square miles." The actual implementation would determine the value of X. (All markers would be of the same size, and there might be some variation of this if an electronic implementation was agreed on - it's easier when all you have to overlap is electrons.)
3. Once a marker was placed, it would never be removed.
4. For the first time since the Hall of Flags was founded, we would gain the ability to mark the origins of US students as well.
The actual display of the map is one of the open questions: so far, I've heard the following:
* a globe hanging in the center of the hall
* a giant world map on one wall
* regional maps (continental or by octant of the globe) on the walls around the perimeter of the Hall
* an electronically-generated or projected map or series of maps serving the same purpose This one has the interesting side effect of making it much easier to update, and could potentially allow us to make it interactive through a kiosk in the Hall that could also explain it, give statistics, etc. Imagine being able to key in a city name (current or reasonably recent - cities change names occasionally) or latitude and longitude and finding out if there had been a student from there. This could make it even more personal for new students than the original Hall.
And the ceiling - that ugly, empty ceiling that one hosted a plethora of colored fabric - could even be returned to a Hall of Flags - a Hall that would be difficult to argue with: a display of Texas historical flags with the large US and Texas flag returned as anchors? I'm not talking about another "6 Flags over Texas" here. It would need to include as many historical flags that once flew over this state as possible: the Goliad flag, the Alamo flag, the "Bonnie Blue" flag, the San Jacinto flag, etc., etc. We'd need to draft our friends in the history department for help on this one! Before anyone brings it up, the "Stars and Bars" - not the "Rebel Flag" (Confederate battle flag) - would represent the Confederacy, as it does state-wide.
This is only one idea, with a supplement to bring back the colors to the ceiling and allow us to retain the name with the meaning in the same place.
This site is to be discussion of this - and other - potential "redecorations" of the Hall that would restore its former beauty and meaning in a way that would be harder to attack. Remember, we're talking about meaning here.
This site does not require registration - anyone can make an entry - but all entries must stay on the subject. This means no political comments (go to www.SaveTheHallOfFlags.com for that), no discussions of ways to get the Hall restored (go to www.savethehallofflags.blogspot.com), etc. I will remove all non-conforming entries in toto as soon as found.
Enough from me. Let the ideas flow!
NOTHING can ever replace the Hall of Flags itself, but as was pointed out by a supporter of the Hall of Flags on www.SaveTheHallOfFlags.com, a flag is just a piece of cloth, with the meaning - or meanings - ascribed to it by its context, which, unfortunately, includes the personal history of the viewer. Because of the complexities of the contextual influences, a symbol can sometimes be misconstrued, as here. That is not the issue on this blog.
The issue on this blog is the examination of a potential restatement of what the Hall stood for. This particular idea originated with one of my students during an ethics discussion in senior design. The student, when challenged to come up with a solution to the problem, suggested the following: a simple topographical world map.
The map itself would only show topography (ie, no national boundaries, no city names, no names of geographical features). He believes (and I concur) that this eliminates the "political" issue from being raised effectively. City locations might or might not be shown. Student origins would be signified by a pin, light or other marker of a standard size and color, and located only by latitude and longitude. The initial rule set would be similar to the Hall of Flags, but would allow us to show much more detail about the sources of our students:
1. To place a marker, any engineering student could request it by supplying the latitude and longitude (or current location name if we can locate it) of either (1) his place of birth; or (2) his place of residence immediately preceding his entry to the US to attend college. This would be required to match the official records, so, for instance, a student born in this country to two Scottish parents could not claim a location in Scotland.
2. If the requested marker could not be placed without overlapping an existing marker, it would not be added - there are practical limits here. This is analogous to "only one flag per country," but ends up, in reality as "only one marker per X square miles." The actual implementation would determine the value of X. (All markers would be of the same size, and there might be some variation of this if an electronic implementation was agreed on - it's easier when all you have to overlap is electrons.)
3. Once a marker was placed, it would never be removed.
4. For the first time since the Hall of Flags was founded, we would gain the ability to mark the origins of US students as well.
The actual display of the map is one of the open questions: so far, I've heard the following:
* a globe hanging in the center of the hall
* a giant world map on one wall
* regional maps (continental or by octant of the globe) on the walls around the perimeter of the Hall
* an electronically-generated or projected map or series of maps serving the same purpose This one has the interesting side effect of making it much easier to update, and could potentially allow us to make it interactive through a kiosk in the Hall that could also explain it, give statistics, etc. Imagine being able to key in a city name (current or reasonably recent - cities change names occasionally) or latitude and longitude and finding out if there had been a student from there. This could make it even more personal for new students than the original Hall.
And the ceiling - that ugly, empty ceiling that one hosted a plethora of colored fabric - could even be returned to a Hall of Flags - a Hall that would be difficult to argue with: a display of Texas historical flags with the large US and Texas flag returned as anchors? I'm not talking about another "6 Flags over Texas" here. It would need to include as many historical flags that once flew over this state as possible: the Goliad flag, the Alamo flag, the "Bonnie Blue" flag, the San Jacinto flag, etc., etc. We'd need to draft our friends in the history department for help on this one! Before anyone brings it up, the "Stars and Bars" - not the "Rebel Flag" (Confederate battle flag) - would represent the Confederacy, as it does state-wide.
This is only one idea, with a supplement to bring back the colors to the ceiling and allow us to retain the name with the meaning in the same place.
This site is to be discussion of this - and other - potential "redecorations" of the Hall that would restore its former beauty and meaning in a way that would be harder to attack. Remember, we're talking about meaning here.
This site does not require registration - anyone can make an entry - but all entries must stay on the subject. This means no political comments (go to www.SaveTheHallOfFlags.com for that), no discussions of ways to get the Hall restored (go to www.savethehallofflags.blogspot.com), etc. I will remove all non-conforming entries in toto as soon as found.
Enough from me. Let the ideas flow!
posted by trethard | 5:44 PM
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