Repository: UIHistories Project: UI Foundation Series - Need for Student Union (1937) [PAGE 8]

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HE college and university U n i o n idea goes back more than 100 years in the case of Oxford, forty-one years in the case of Houston Hall at the University of Pennsylvania, the first U n i o n in the United States. The Reynolds Club of the University of Chicago and Brown U n i o n of Brown University started in 1903* The Harvard U n i o n was organized probably about the same time. In all there are forty Unions in the universities and colleges of the country, most of them organized in the last fifteen years. The Oxford U n i o n Society had its beginning in the "Attic Society," founded in 1821 by Augustus Hare. It was first a debating society; the founder's idea was a "miniature parliament." The name was changed to "Oxford U n i o n Society" in 1825. D o w n through the years the Society has held its standards high. Mr. Gladstone, Lord Salisbury and Mr. Asquith, three of England's most famous premiers, were presidents of the Society in their student days. Oxford U n i o n has expanded with the years and has taken a prominent part in promoting the social life of the University. It still maintains the debate as one of its functions. The first U n i o n in our own country, Houston Hall at the University of Pennsylvania, was established in 1896 by Mr. and Mrs. Henry H. Houston as a memorial to their son. In 1904 every male student of the University automatically became a member; part of his fees were allocated to Houston Hall. Since 1924 all fees have been removed, and the building is now practically self-supporting. Today Houston Hall is considered badly outgrown. N e w plans call for two wings, which will more than double the capacity. In our western universities, especially the state institutions, the U n i o n idea has taken root and developed a remarkably strong growth. The oldest of these, at Michigan, built in 1916, is exclusively a men's Union. The women at Michigan have a building of their own. Both of these were financed mainly by alumni subscriptions. At both Purdue and Indiana have been erected monumental structures for U n i o n purposes. Although comparatively new, both Unions have already firmly established themselves as indispensable. Wisconsin has a splendid Union, built in 1928, and already too small. Iowa University and Iowa State College are equipped with excellent U n i o n buildings. Minnesota is making plans for a large new structure to augment its present accommodations. At all these institutions the Unions render signal service, as told in letters which follow.

Lounge of Iowa Union, built in 1930; a glorious room 90x144

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A number of sleeping rooms are included in the plan. These will be available to University guests, alumni, parents of students, and others connected with the University. This is in accordance with the practice at other universities. Throughout all consideration of the design of the U n i o n , there has been kept in mind the thought of unifying the student body through better and more general social contacts than the University has ever been able to provide in the past; of fostering student and faculty association; and of providing, for returning alumni, for parents, and for friends of the University, a place where they may feel at home. That, indeed, is the Illini Union: not an institution, but a home - for lllini and their friends.

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