Hello JWS! For those of you I haven’t gotten to meet yet, I’m Elisabeth Melms, and I currently serve as the President for the 116th Board! Although we’ve only been in full swing for about a month or so, it’s been a very busy January, and as the spring semester gets going I wanted to take some time to update you on everything Union Board.
Structurally, we’re a little different now. This year for student director roles, we have four that serve on our executive team, two non-programming roles (marketing and recruitment), and twelve programming roles, all in addition to the non-student directors who assist alongside us. On our executive team, two roles have been shifted. We now have a VP of Programs and a VP of Relations. The VP of Programs expanded our previous VP of Finance role to not only ensure our budget process moves efficiently, but to increase focus on assessment of our events and gaining event feedback and demographics. Salima is compiling data so we can know the areas where we excel in programming, who our target audiences are, and what students we still need to reach. Our relations role has also expanded, putting an emphasis on helping the board gain collaborations with student organizations, external partners, sponsors, and funding for our events, expanding our budget and therefore our reach when it comes to the number of events we can host and students we can serve. In the VPR role, Mickey has been developing internal tools and systems to help directors find success in strong partnerships with organizations and departments within campus, and in soliciting corporate sponsorships for larger events. To highlight a success—our February chess tournament is being paid for thanks to a sponsorship with Chess.com, thus allowing us to use what we would have spent on the tournament for additional programming in the future.
More than ever, the board this year understands the importance of having the student perspective be present when it comes to administrative decisions, or ensuring our role in governance is not just an advisory position, but one where the Union truly is governed by students. As such, we remain committed to being one of the largest mouthpieces for student voices on campus. While I sit in on the IMU Leadership team meetings, other directors have served on committees for First Year Experience’s Strategic Planning, and the search for the new Associate Director of the IMU. We are also in the final stages of rewriting Union Board’s 30 year agreement with the IU Auditorium, drafting a new partnership agreement with them that ensures Union Board can better collaborate when it comes to promoting events in the auditorium. As a result, the auditorium is establishing a program committee that Union Board students will sit on to assist with the selection of the schedule and performances, giving students a chance to weigh in on the shows their auditorium is bringing to them, creating a more student-focused performing arts scene on campus.
In other governance-related news, our IMU Art Initiative still remains in full swing! Hopefully you all got a chance to read the beautiful JWS blog post one of our Canvas Directors, Martha, was featured in about the new art pieces we selected from the BUTTER Art Fair that are now on display. I am always constantly inspired by how dedicated our board is to making sure the IMU remains a physically welcoming space. Our goal as an organization this year is to ensure the Union is a space where all students not only feel welcome, but can literally see that the building itself reflects the modern student experience, and diversifying our art collection is just the first step in that ongoing process. In celebration of Black History Month, the Canvas team has put up didactics next to all of the pieces in the building made from Black artists, honoring their work and calling to attention the wide variety of art that calls the Union home. In addition to their work on the art initiative, Canvas’ creative programming continues—their committee also has two co-directors this year to help maintain their wide range of programs, and submissions for the CANVAS art magazine are currently underway.
Continuing more into programmatic updates, I’m happy to announce that we’re bringing back some old committees and bringing in a new one! Live From Bloomington and Concerts have combined into one larger music-oriented committee again, keeping the LFB namesake of course. LFB now has two directors (co-directors) to help lead it. Having all of our creative and music industry oriented brains in the same group only adds to our vision of bringing the best and biggest concerts and musical performances to IU, and they’re already working on several ideas—Tiny Couch (a spoof on NPR’s Tiny Desk series), a rave out on Dunn Meadow, and even professional development opportunities for the field via a Entertainment Industry Conference.
Some of you might remember the GEEC committee (Gaming, Electronics, and Entertainment Committee, pronounced “geek”) from your time on board. It’s back! Our GEEC committee is focused on broadening the UB experience to connect with students of all backgrounds and interests, even if it’s over a computer screen. They’ve already got a chess tournament coming up, and are looking at reintroducing BloomingCon (Bloomington Comic-Con). This year we’ve also started a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) committee. This is a brand new idea to help reach those demographics of students we might have been missing in the past. Our STEM director Amalee had noticed that the hard science fields often get overlooked when it comes to programming on campus, and wanted to make sure students of all majors have events that cater towards them. Amalee’s looking to make STEM accessible to everyone, regardless of their major, and break down the stigma that science can’t be fun or engaging.
What we’re most excited about is our upcoming lecture program—A Conversation with Coach Cignetti. For the first time since Bobby Knight was at IU, a head athletics coach is sitting down to talk with students directly, and students are getting hype to hear the story behind IU Football’s record-setting season. Our lectures director Reid will be taking the stage in for this event, and this program is the culmination of everything we’re aiming to do—uniting the IU community and building Hoosier pride.
There’s a lot to be proud of so far. Despite building some new committees from the ground up, we’ve already had five committees serve over 400 students in the month of January alone, in addition to the approximately 200 attendees at our film series. This year, it is a priority to collaborate with other student organizations and work on our student-to-student relationships. There’s an organization for just about everyone these days, and as the number of student organizations rise, what’s essential is continuing to instill the idea that the Union is the one place all students belong to and call home. In our first month alone we’ve already partnered or co-sponsored with 8 different organizations, ranging from the First Nations Education and Cultural Center to the Theatre Department to the Pacific Islanders Student Association. All of this collaboration only amplifies student voices, ensuring we work together to build events and initiatives for students, by students! By being at the heart of collaborative and programming efforts with other organizations, we ensure continued education of the Union’s mission and demonstrate its active role in completing the student experience.
Each board builds on the success of the one before it, and with 116 years of tradition behind us, we have never been better poised for success. I know this year’s directors are ready to make an impact and already have, I can’t wait to see all we will continue to accomplish together throughout the year.
Elisabeth Melms
116th Indiana Memorial Union Board President
