The University Programming Board serves to educate and entertain the entire Loyola community through a broad spectrum of events.

Over the years, though, our mission has remained the same; the ways in which we have gone about facilitating that mission has changed, and this past semester has been no exception.

This year UPB seeks a greater transparency with the Loyola community, and we are accomplishing this mission in a number of ways.

First of all, we have moved all of our operations to the Hub, Loyola’s new inter-organizational space in the Danna Center. This move facilitates greater communication and collaboration with other student groups who use the space’s facilities.

Secondly, we now have a consolidated meeting where both general and governing board members are able to participate, the former group now being able to propose events on their own.

Not only does this allow for greater transparency but it also shifts the power to the students. The university gives UPB money to make programming decisions for the students of Loyola.

Now, those decisions lie directly in the hands of the students. The meetings are accessible to everyone, and all are welcome to attend.

Other changes may be seen as well. UPB has made a concerted effort to reach a larger target market in the variety of events it seeks to program.

Over the past year and a half, we have increased programming efforts by 100 percent. This past semester alone we have seen movie nights with blockbusters not yet released on DVD as well as the Dinner and a Movie series, a collaborative effort with Loyola’s Dining Services; trivia experiences, such as ThinkFast and Tacos and Trivia; educational symposiums on breast cancer and eco-friendly technologies; Third Friday and Pep Rally celebrations; weekend excursions to the French Quarter, House of Shock, and Prytania Theater. The possibilities are endless.

We also look forward to SNOW @ LOYNO, coming up on Dec. 4 in the Horseshoe, as well as a campus-wide recycling initiative and incentive program, beginning the week of finals.

We are currently in the process of putting together a spring calendar of programs and invite ideas and suggestions of what the student body would like to see happen on campus.

That being said, as changes in an organization remain vital for survival to occur, it is also important to have some form of consistency, insurance should the worst occur.

I, speaking independently of the board, support enactment of a minimal student activities fee, which would provide the budget for UPB in the future.

Currently, we are financed through the Office of Co-Curricular Programs and have a wonderful working relationship with that office. However, a day may come when priorities on funding shift, perhaps leaving UPB and the student body with inadequate funds to program. Student activities fees are found on most college campuses; however, at Loyola there has been a different philosophy in place.

A fee of similar nature was going to be proposed to the budget committee this year but was removed from the docket due to a strong lack of support by its membership.

I encourage that conversation to resurface so that we may work together toward a better, more consistent and student-empowered Loyola.

Braxton Bernard is president of the University Programming Board and a marketing senior. He can be reached at [email protected].