Hall of Flags

The Banners

Each year, as new engineering students arrive on campus from around the world, they can take pride in seeing that a banner representing their home country is hanging in the atrium. If they do not see their country represented, they are encouraged to contact the dean’s office to request that a banner representing their country be hung. New banners are hung annually in advance of International Week.

The design of the new banners is based on UTA’s school colors. All of the banners are exactly the same, except for the names of the individual countries, to ensure that every country is represented consistently.

Country names on the banners reflect the naming conventions used by the United Nations and reflect the name of the country as it existed at the time the first engineering student from that country requested that it be hung.

The United States, Texas, and University flags are incorporated into the display and reflect the rich heritage of our country, state and institution. A banner representing students from the U.S. also hangs in the banner display.

The Controversy

In April 2006, some Vietnamese Americans objected to the hanging of the national flag of Vietnam. The flag of the former South Vietnam had hung in the Hall of Flags since its beginning. The national flag of North Vietnam, which also hung in the Hall, had long been associated with the current communist government.

On April 30, although the University's then-President James D. Spaniolo stated that the University's official stance on the flags was that UTA was not endorsing individual nations or their politics or policies, but rather the students and alumni from those nations, more than 3,000 Vietnamese-Americans from around the state came to the campus to protest the hanging of the North Vietnamese flag. On May 10, Spaniolo ordered the removal of all of the flags from the Hall and formed a committee to determine alternate ways of celebrating the diversity of the student body.

The Committee on Diversity and Understanding recommended that new banners be created for the Nedderman Hall atrium — one of several recommendations the committee made for meaningful ways to celebrate the University’s rich diversity.

Countries and Territories Represented in the Hall of Flags

* – Territories, independent administrative regions/provinces or other sovereign states
** – Country name no longer used