The Student Union is updating its online presence with a new Union website and Facebook group. The new site went live on Wednesday, with information on their recent initiatives, contact information and bios for all members, minutes from weekly Senate meetings and other information. The new website claims to be a “complete overhaul of how the Union communicates with the student body.”

The Union website is part of President Nyah Macklin’s ’16 goal of improving transparency and communication between students and the Union. It gives students access to members of the Union, allowing them to put “names to faces,” Macklin said. Macklin and her Union colleagues want to keep the student body up to date on their activity and hear ideas from students about changes they want to see at Brandeis.

Thanks to the work of Grady Ward ’16, senior representative to the Board of Trustees, the site is “aesthetically gorgeous,” Macklin said. Ward’s goal was create a website with a modern design that is easy to navigate, he said.

Though the Union intended for the website to go up at the beginning of the semester, setbacks included the process of collecting all the information to go on the website.

“Populating it with content and really making sure that we got the information we needed for everyone really was what took the most time,” said Ward. With the site up and running, Macklin is going to send a campus-wide email about the new site to encourage traffic.

The site contains information on President Nyah Macklin’s proposed changes to the structure of the Allocations Board and the results of the survey on financial aid Union representatives presented to the Board of Trustees. It details initiatives such as Meatless Mondays and Macklin’s campaign to educate students on their rights as students. It provides information on club finance policies and informs students on how to get involved with the Union, listing office hours for members and encouraging students to attend Town Halls or reach out about Union committees.

Students can also join the Union’s new Facebook group, which Macklin created yesterday, as opposed to liking a page. Having a public groups allows for improved communication, Macklin said. It gives students access to the Union “in a way that’s not just one directional, us putting information out, but also getting feedback,” said Macklin. So far, the group has over 300 members.

There is a position open for a student to maintain the Union’s website, make quick fixes and correct errors. Students do not need technical experience to hold the position, Ward said, but concepts are similar to editing word documents.