Union Board makes plans for 2010 year

Armed with a gavel, Union Board of Directors President Andrew Dahlen conducts weekly Union Board meetings in observance of Robert’s Rules of Order.

At these meetings, Dahlen, 15 other student directors and three non-student directors decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of dollars of student money. For the 2010 fiscal year, Union Board will control $340,000.

Student directors plan and pay for movies, speakers, musicians, Miss IU, Hoosier Sweetheart – about 300 programs in all.

But despite all the programs and all the money, the Union Board still feels like they need to get the word out.

“Cutting fliers – that’s what we do all the time in the Union Board office,” joked freshman Hannah Kinkead, director of public relations.

Students call the shots. Non-student directors include an alumnus, Dean of Students Dick McKaig, a faculty representative and the director of the Union. But directors make decisions at the weekly meeting on a majority vote.

“You just have to be accountable for what you decide,” said senior Audree Notoras, film director.

Since the programs Union Board puts on rely on student money, students are the main constituents, Dahlen said.

It cost about $40,000 to bring author Maya Angelou to IU, Dahlen said. Though the University paid for Angelou’s visit, Union Board spends about that much for speakers, he said.

“Maya Angelou (is) an exception. We are the only student organization with the power to bring big-name speakers and lecturers to campus,” Dahlen said.

The directors oversee the Indiana Memorial Union. They decide what will happen with the bowling alley, and they are trying to get meal points accepted at the IMU, Dahlen said.

They are a voice to the higher powers of the University, Dahlen said.

Union Board started a hundred years ago as a social club designed to bring different campus groups together, Dahlen said. Today the mission of campus unification is the same, but a larger campus with 40,000 students brings new challenges, he said.

In places with large populations, there’s bound to be divisions, Notoras said.

“We try the best we can,” she said.

Dahlen said he spends 30 to 40 hours at the IMU. Keeping up with school is a challenge for the junior studying political science and international studies with a minor in Swahili and an African Studies certificate.

Directors have to keep 25 to 30 hours of “office hours” at the Union Board.

“The office, it’s kind of a second home for all of us,” Kinkead said.