Procedures for Displaying and Maintaining International Flags
HIGE will purchase and maintain two sets of flags for university use: one set appropriate for outdoor use and one set appropriate for indoor use. Both sets will consist of one flag for each country selected except that the indoor set will contain two flags from each of the top ten countries according to current enrollment at WMU. Priority use of the outdoor flags will be for flag pole rotation (see below). The indoor flags will be available for the Matriculation Ceremony, the Parade of Nations, and other university events.
Each of the two full sets will include flags of all member countries of the United Nations plus certain other flags. Additional flags will include countries that are not U.N. member states but which the U.S. government recognizes for visa purposes and from which we have students enrolled. For example, the additional countries would currently include Hong Kong and Taiwan. The flag of constituent parts of U.N. member countries may also be included if we have enrolled students represented. For example, the United Kingdom is the U.N. member country but we may include the flag of Scotland, which is part of the U.K., if we enroll a student from there.
No flags outside of the set defined above will be used for official university purposes including, but not limited to, the Matriculation Ceremony, the Parade of Flags, and the International Festival.
Maintenance of Flags – Flags will be inspected by the international student activities staff upon return to the Haenicke Institute after each use to determine if they need to be repaired or replaced. In addition to this rolling inspection a complete visual inventory will be made of both sets of flags each year during the first week of July. This will allow any worn flags to be replaced prior to the Matriculation Ceremony and the Parade of Nations.
Matriculation Ceremony – This ceremony requires coordination among Enrollment Management, Miller Auditorium staff and HIGE. Since we will have a complete set of indoor flags, there will be no need to be concerned with the flags that are part of the flagpole rotation. The full set of indoor flags will be provided. This will include countries from which we do not have students currently enrolled. Since we do not have a complete and official list of newly enrolled students until census, by using the full set we will be sure to have the flag of each new student who attends the Matriculation Ceremony. The Haenicke Institute will provide written instructions on how to hang the flags so they will all be facing in the right direction. The flags will be hung by Miller Auditorium staff.
Parade of Nations – The full set of indoor flags representing the diversity of the WMU international community will be available. Students sign up to carry the flags on a first-come first-served basis. Students who don’t sign up early enough to carry the flag of their home country may volunteer to carry the flag of one of the other countries. Flags and poles will be distributed by international student activities staff prior to the game. Students must sign for the flag they receive. Immediately after the pre-game display, as students leave the stadium, they turn their flags in to the international activities staff.
Flag Pole Rotation – Six outdoor flags at a time will be flown on the poles near the Lee Honors College. The flag pole rotation is the priority use of the outdoor flags. The flags will be rotated alphabetically according to current enrollment every three months. When the six flags are taken down they will be replaced by the next six flags on the alphabetical list and for which we have students currently enrolled. The international student activities staff will notify the director of administration and the communications officer in the Haenicke Institute with the names of the countries whose flags have been put up. A list of currently flying flags will be shown on the Haenicke Institute Web site. If any flag needs to be taken down for any reason outside of the normal rotation, the Haenicke Institute must be informed immediately
Rev. 3/19/2015