Everybody's a member

There is something the directors of Union Board want students to know: Every student is a member. By paying activity fees, students become members of Union Board, one of IU's largest student activity programming boards.\nAll members of Union Board are eligible to be on committees and to become directors. Director of marketing Scott Dittmer said getting involved with Union Board is a great social activity.\n"(Union Board) is a way to make the campus smaller, to meet people and to influence how (activity fee) money is spent," he said.\nThere are several acts in the works at the present time by different committees. While full details are not yet available, Drew Goldberg, director of major attractions, said students should be looking forward to some big events this semester. The Late Night programming has scheduled large-scale events March 23 and April 12. \nGoldberg said the March 23 event will include something that has never been done by Union Board -- electronic music. This attraction will also have some content from the Fine Arts Committee, led by Jessica Williams-Gibson.\n"With our late night programs, we bring in…anything and everything possible that could be in the Union," Goldberg said.\nHis committee also makes an effort to encourage networking with other committees, a proven strength of Union Board. The board also gets input from other organizations through co-sponsorship of events.\nUnion Board's mission statement outlines the importance of creating channels of discussion, promoting diversity and campus unity, and encouraging personal development.\n"Students can come out and learn something different and something about themselves," said Mzilikazi Koné, director of the lectures committee. \nThere have been several well-known people who have visited IU to speak to students, faculty and the community. Speakers from last semester include Colin Powell, Elizabeth Dole, and Maya Angelou. \nWednesday, William Upski Wimsatt will be speaking in the Whittenberger Auditorium. Wimsatt is the author of Bomb the Suburbs and No More Prisons, and his talk is titled "Why IU students are America's best bet to save our ass in the 21st Century." Union Board and the Hip Hop Congress are co-sponsoring the event.\n"These lectures can speak to so many different students. The title of 'lecture' doesn't convey the excitement and different possibilities," Koné said. "You will leave excited, educated and motivated -- all from one lecture."\nDittmer said each calendar year eight directors are elected and eight more are selected. This yearly change of directors and the large number of committee members keeps fresh ideas coming into the organization. \nUnion Board brings in many attractions throughout the year in addition to offering the weekend film series, one of the longest-running film series in the nation.\nAll students are invited to stop by the Union Board office. \n"It's an office for all because everyone's a member," Dittmer said.