Cierra Hinton named new president of CUAB

For Cierra Hinton, being a part of the Carolina Union Activities Board is in her blood.

Officially named president for the 2011-2012 school year on Monday, Hinton, a junior, said her mother first told her about CUAB.

“She was involved (in CUAB) and always said wonderful things about it,” she said of her mother, who graduated from UNC in 1981.

When she transferred to UNC two years ago, Hinton knew she had to carry on the legacy.

She was appointed by Student Congress to the Union Board of Directors during her first year at UNC and was chosen as chairwoman of the forum committee in the fall of 2010.

When she was the lone member of her committee, Hinton brought the Little Rock Nine — vital in the movement to desegregate schools — and Rocsi Diaz— the host of BET’s “106 and Park” who struggled with anorexia — to discuss their lives and achievements with students.

Hinton, a transfer student from N.C. Agricultural &Technical State University, said she hopes that CUAB will help to embrace new UNC students.

“Once we get to Fall Fest and all 600 student organizations are out there, it gets harder to grab students,” she said. “I want to get to students a little earlier.”

Hinton said she wants to continue to spread the CUAB name — a goal current president Tyler Mills and former president Adele Ricciardi have tried to achieve this year.

“We sponsor so many great events, but not everyone knows that it’s CUAB, or even what CUAB is,” Hinton said.

Ricciardi said she created external affairs and finance committees to help make CUAB better known around campus.

The finance committee, which balances the CUAB budget and divvies up student fees, will continue to be a vital group, Hinton said. CUAB is funded entirely by student fees.

“People have criticized how much money we’re spending on events,” Hinton said. “Tyler and Adele have done a good job this year to say, ‘Is this worth the money you’re asking for?’”

Hinton said budgeting student fees effectively will call on her to ask if the things CUAB puts on are worth their price.

“In the economic climate we’re in, I don’t want students to feel like we’re wasting their money at all.”

Hinton was chosen by the Union Board of Directors, led by Mills. Ricciardi, who graduated in December, could not help in the selection process, she said.

Mills said that Hinton has shown her strength as a leader.

“We’ve seen her grow a lot this year in CUAB,” Mills said.

“She definitely has a vision of how to get things accomplished on campus.”

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