Do signs and posters of WUD around campus have you saying WTF? Well, I'm here to help.
The Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Student Programming Board is a campus organization of many facets. The various niches within WUD, and the students who run them, bring to campus stellar programming, activities, and exhibitions for fellow Badgers.
It seems appropriate to kick off the year with an overview of the committees to give fresh faces a chance to check things out for themselves—just in time for the Student Org Fair—or at least an overview of half of the committees, since they are so jam-packed with incredible things we had to make this introductory article a two-part series!
Commence Part One.
Before I leave you to struggle with which meeting to attend first (and you'll have to look back for the rest next week), here's your promised explanation of TITU. No, it's not a less than discreet reference to some breasticular-area extremity (though its closeness sometimes makes me giggle), it stands for Today In The Union and it is a board located on the wall immediately across from the main entrance to the Memorial Union. Here, you can locate the committee meeting you wish to attend on a piece of paper, which will then tell you the location. A map of the Union also conveniently neighbors said list.
Are you one of those kids standing outside of Chazen in the afternoon smoking your American Spirits? Then it may be wise to visit WUD Art for their next meeting.
According to WUD's website, art committee ""selects, installs, and accessibly presents local, national, and international contemporary work in its five gallery spaces in Memorial Union and Union South."" They also visit the studios of other artists along with local and regional art centers to give members a firsthand look at contemporary trends. So if you want to be a part of organizing the various galleries around campus, be sure to stop by Memorial Union on Tuesdays at 7 p.m.
Perhaps you are looking for a lecture that doesn't put you to sleep, or find yourself seeking new inspiration and enlightenment. The Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS) committee boasts one of the best student-run lecture series in the nation and you could help them bring some of the most influential minds of our age to campus.
Past speakers include the controversial feminist and atheist activist, Ayaan Hirsi Ali (2009-10) and hilarioius Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi (2010-2011). In the coming weeks, attendees can look forward to Beijing-based correspondent for Science magazine and author Mara Hvistendahl as she discusses the practice of sex-selection and Asia's 160 ""missing"" females. If you like to stir up a little controversy and get people thinking, pop into a DLS meeting on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. in the Union.
Or do you judge the quality of a movie on its cinematography? Was one of your favorite nights spent at home with a bottle of wine watching ""Chocolat""? Boom. Join Film Committee. These movie matrons are responsible for ""programming up to seven nights of free films [per week] in the Marquee Theater at Union South.""
Upcoming flicks include the documentary ""Cultures of Resistance, A Film Unfinished,"" Stephen Spielberg's ""Super 8,"" ""Taxi Driver"" and ""The Tree of Life"" in the next two weeks. For more details about these movies go to union.wisc.edu/film or attend one of their meetings on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. at the Union.
If you're even remotely curious about one or all of these committees, or myriad other activities, I'd highly recommend you stop by and visit them at the Student Org Fair, tonight at the Kohl Center from 5-8 p.m. before making your way to a kickoff meeting the following week.
You are a part of this campus's badger family, so wouldn't it be nice to have a say in what takes place at the venues created for you? If you had the chance to bring to UW-Madison anything you wanted, what WUD you choose? Keep your eye out for the highlights of three more committees in next week's Wednesday paper!
If you've got questions for Jaime email her at jbrackeen@wisc.edu.
