Kent Interhall Council is known for Lil’ Sibs and Sextoberfest, but next semester programming is taking a backseat to advocacy.

KIC will still have programs next year, but President Avery Danage said the group wants to concentrate more on representing students.

“It shouldn’t be a chore for us to tackle student issues,” Danage said.

KIC plans to work with Undergraduate Student Government and Black United Students in order to build communication and cater to different audiences.

Josh Kropko, KIC director of leadership development, said it’s important that student organizations like KIC and USG combine their resources to tackle student apathy about campus involvement.

“You’re on campus to better yourself as a person, and if that isn’t one of your goals, you should probably reevaluate your goals,” Kropko said.

He plans to have two leadership workshops next semester. The diversity committee, the food committee and student forums will continue next year. Hall council members will have mandatory leadership training within the first two weeks of school.

Besides advocacy, programming is the biggest part of KIC, and Antoinette Newberry, vice president of programming and development, plans to step up KIC programs.

Next year will be Newberry’s first year on the KIC board. As vice president, she is in charge of Lil’ Sibs Weekend, Sextoberfest, a Week of Welcome program, a diversity program and two additional programs each semester.

Newberry said she’s a bit nervous about the amount of programs she is in charge of, but she hopes to have the plans for two programs done by July. For her two additional programs, Newberry wants to have a concert and a Women’s Awareness Week. She also plans to bring in a speaker for Sextoberfest.

Next year, KIC also wants to improve its advertising. Danage said this year KIC didn’t advertise until it was too late. Besides participating in Week of Welcome, KIC plans to do chalking, include information in move-in packets and do some recruiting.

“People need to, from the first day they set foot on campus, know who we are, why we are and what we can do for them,” Kropko said.

The biggest internal issue for KIC is retention. Last semester, the board started with 11 members, and after winter break it was at seven. This semester, it lost two more members. Kropko said some left for better opportunities, but a few left for personal reasons.

“(It) made things difficult,” Kropko said. “We had to cancel the 5K, and we had to really struggle through Lil’ Sibs. We came out as stronger individuals because of it, but we could have served the residents better if we had a stronger board.”

Although the new board is fairly young, Danage said this year is all about change and looking forward, and he’s confident in the new board.

“We’ve had so many people leave the board in the past two semesters because they didn’t have a major identity in KIC. Whatever they did, it wasn’t their own,” Danage said. “I don’t want (the new board) to think they have to live in the shadows of the past 34 years of KIC.”

Contact room and board reporter Brittany Moseley at [email protected].