Union Board selects eight new executive members

On Friday Union Board selected the second set of eight students who will represent IU on the 2014 Union Board.

One by one, candidates that were not elected by the student body for director positions were interviewed before a panel of 10 previous Union Board members and other organization leaders.

“It was intimidating to have to stand in front of a bunch of leaders of different organizations that are two, three years older than me,” freshman Adam Fialkowski said.

The interviews took place in the Fletchall room on the seventh floor of the Indiana Memorial Union.

Union Board used to meet in the room years ago, but because of the organization’s growth, it had to move the meeting to a bigger location, said sophomore Laura Schulte, former IDS reporter and new addition to the 105th Union Board.

Union Board now uses the room only for the selection process.

The new Union Board, which includes the eight members chosen by the student body and the eight new members chosen by interviews, will be installed in January.

Fialkowski said he was both surprised and honored when he got the call that he would be a director for the 2014 year.

The new Union Board celebrated the occasion with a brunch Sunday. The brunch allowed the new members to get to know one another, Schulte said.

The 16 members of the 105th Union Board will divide director and executive positions soon. Positions are determined within the board.

“We met today and we’re thinking about having multiple directors per committee so that the responsibilities are more divided and so that each program will get more attention,” sophomore Greta Smith said.

Smith and Schulte both served as committee members and assistant directors, so they are both familiar with the past Union Board system of having one director per committee.

The system would allow for broader committees with more directors working on projects. The goal is to be able to offer more events for students more often, Smith said.

The 104th Union Board will have its last meeting on Thursday.

“I think that our board is going to be very, very strong,” Schulte said. “I can already tell from meeting them today. We have a lot of independent thinkers, and I think that we’re not going to have that many challenges.”

Follow reporter Torie Schumacher on Twitter @shoe_torie.