Volunteers spread holiday cheer throughout the IMU

Upon walking into the East Lounge in the Indiana Memorial Union, students are greeted with two gleaming Christmas trees and other holiday decorations. Wreaths hang on nearly every door in the building, and decorations hang from the ceiling in the Market.

“I think the Union ought to be a welcoming place,” Union Executive Director Bruce Jacobs said. “The decorations really just lighten the building up. It’s energizing.”

This is the third year that volunteers have put up decorations around the building, said Teri Hruby, secretary to the director at the Union.

“The building used to be really decked out,” she said. “Then we got into politically correct times, where Christmas trees and menorahs were offensive.”

Hruby said that three years ago when Jacobs took over as director, they decided to try decorating again and be more inclusive.

Decorations around the building are primarily Christmas, Hruby said, because they are using the same decorations from 20 years ago. Most of the decorations are from storage or are bought by members of the Union staff in after holiday sales, she said.

In a couple instances, Hruby said people decorating rooms in the Union for special events will leave their unwanted decorations with the set-up staff.

“Quite a bit of what we’ve accumulated has come from madrigal dinners,” she said. “When we start going through that type of stuff, we find wire birds and odd greenery. We might be able to use it, but we sure can’t think of anything to do with it right now.”

Hruby said she and fellow staff member Sandi Robertson put up a majority of the decorations this year. While more volunteers have helped in the previous two years, Hruby said not as many could help this season.

“Not everyone can get away from their desk and go play with Christmas trees and menorahs,” she said.

Hruby said they start putting up decorations on the Monday before Thanksgiving because there is less student traffic in the building. Volunteers decorated from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. the three days before break, she said.

Taking the decorations out of storage and moving them to a meeting room took two and a half hours, Hruby said.

“The room looked chock-full,” she said. “But when we spread it out, it looks kind of thin.”

Hruby said much of the time she and Robertson would be the only two decorating. Roberston would put a tree on a cart and move it to the room where she wanted to decorate it while Hruby put together another tree.

“It doesn’t take Sandi very long to decorate a tree,” Hruby said. “It was like a two-person assembly line.”

Hruby said they would like to incorporate more decorations for different holidays, such as Hanukkah and Kwanzaa; however, they want the displays to be accurate. She said they would like someone to come in and set up a display so the decoration does not come off as offensive instead of celebratory.

“The problem is being able to provide security for something like that,” she said.

Each year, candles, ornaments and other small decorations are stolen from the displays, Hruby said. Yesterday morning Hruby said she walked into the East Lounge to find an entire tree missing. The tree was later found in the Frangipani Room, she said, most likely to be used as a decoration for an event in the room last Friday.

“We have to be careful where we put things,” she said. “That’s anti-spirit, the complete opposite of what the holiday season is about. The candles are only 99 cents – it’s not a big deal. It’s just the principle.”

Jacobs said he hopes to have a display each month in the Union to celebrate holidays around the world.

“Our goal is to have something up year-round,” he said. “That’s how you learn. If you have a holiday that you would like to recognize, just contact the Union.”

Hruby said she hopes students appreciate the decorations because it is a student union. Putting up the decorations is a lot of work and is very time-consuming, but she said she thinks having a little bit of the holiday spirit in the building is a good thing.

“I see students take a chair and drag it over to sit by a tree,” she said. “And kids that come in with their parents, their eyes light up when they see the trees. I would hope they like the season in the building when they come in.”