Last year, the NC State Student Body changed their name from ‘Union Activities Board’ to ‘University Activities Board’ to promote campus inclusivity.
Imani *Starling-Brown, a fourth-year graduating senior studying Fashion and Textile Management and vice president of communications for the former Union Activities Board (UAB), began advocating for the organization’s name change in January of 2018. After attending the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) with UAB, she realized the other universities in attendance did not include ‘union’ in their organization names.
“We were formally the Union Activities Board,” Starling-Brown said. “Now we are the University Activities Board. It was my responsibility to first off, initiate it, so it was my idea to change the name. We go to something called the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA), so a bunch of activity boards from all universities from across the nation are there, and during that experience, although other people had student unions, no one’s name had ‘union’ in it. That’s when I started thinking, ‘we don’t just plan for the union, we plan for the campus as a whole’, so if we are a university, we should be called the University Activities Board.”
Starling-Brown shared how important the marketing for the newly named University Activities Board is working on brand consistency so students are aware of the name change.
“We have a lot of things that say ‘Union Activities Board’, and now we’re having to roll all of those old things out and get new things like tablecloths, signage, all of those things, to make sure everyone understands we are the ‘University Activities Board’ now,” Starling-Brown said.
As Vice President of Communication for UAB, Starling-Brown oversees all things marketing and helps maintain brand, voice, and image for UAB.
Starling-Brown’s goals for UAB this year are to gain exposure on campus and promote inclusivity with their events. She said how she hopes that through changes UAB has made, all students will also have an impactful experience.
“One of the first steps of that was last year we actually hired a graduate student as the director of social media, and so she was kind of able to give us the insight of a graduate student, and we were able to program things that could align with what they would be looking for,” Starling-Brown said. “Just understanding we here for the university as a whole, I think is the most important thing for us.”
Josie Thompson, a second-year studying Elementary Education and Concert and Entertainment Vice Chair of UAB, also touched base on inclusivity within UAB.
“UAB is all about inclusivity,” Thompson said. “I was on the Diversity Activities Board last year, and I was a volunteer committee member. We did many events that were educational and eye-opening for a lot of students, to help understand how students in marginalized communities are treated and perceived on campus. UAB is all about educating students while making it inclusive and really fun.”
Thompson encouraged students to attend events on campus such as ‘Chords & Coffee’ and UAB’s karaoke nights as well as joining UAB.
“[Students] can get involved with UAB by reaching out to anyone on the board,” Thompson said. “There’s no application process and UAB highly recommends and welcomes students to join any of the committees. It’s always wanted, we are always looking to include more students in the committees. That way we can reach a greater audience and a better representation of NC State’s student body. That way we can work on programming that is beneficial and fun for everyone.”
Students who are interested in getting involved can visit the UAB office located in the Student Involvement suite on the fourth floor in Talley Student Union in room 4210 or visit their website.
*Editor’s Note: This article has been updated with the correct spelling of Imani Starling-Brown’s name.
