In lieu of recent scrutiny surrounding the transparency of the New Union South Project, Wisconsin Union Directorate committee directors and associate directors will meet Saturday to address broader questions of how programming in Union South will operate.

The meeting will take place at the Breese Terrace Union and will address how the spaces within the new building will be used, as well as how the divisions of WUD — for example Facilities — and the WUD committees will function.

Patrick Tilley, vice president of project management, said the need to inform the student body stems from some recent claims made by Dan Cornelius, former vice president of project management and current Associated Students of Madison Shared Governance representative to Union Council.

Cornelius has vocalized concern over the lack of transparency in the New Union South Project, as well as recently decreased student involvement in the design process, now in it’s final stages.

“I want to let people know that students are involved — it’s just in a very different phase right now to where a lot of the decisions that have to be made are internal,” Tilley said.

In addition to planning how the WUD committees and divisions will function, Tilley said another goal of the meeting is to brainstorm ideas about how to get other student organizations involved once the project is complete.

According to Ethan Berlin, associate director of the Music Committee, the idea of the retreat was brought up after a similar event took place this past summer before any critiques on the amount of student involvement were voiced.

He added this is one of the few opportunities WUD committee leaders have to meet as a group.

“The retreat is, unfortunately, one of the very few times when all the [student leaders] really get together in one big room and get to talk about these things,” Berlin said.

While the general student body is not invited to attend the event, both Tilley and Berlin said they felt that once plans have become more solidified, students would be invited to voice their opinions in a more public forum.

In response to the allegations of decreased student involvement, Berlin said he felt they are completely false.

“I don’t know who else [the involvement] came from,” he said. “I know that it has not come from anyone else — it has come from the students.”

Tilley agreed, adding that information for students who want to get involved has been available from the beginning and that similar criticisms will be faced by any student organization, not just WUD.

Cornelius said while the retreat is a sufficient starting place for thinking about the uses of the building, WUD is not ensuring that design is being seen through to the end of the project.

“Every single student is paying for this project, and I think that [WUD] should be doing as much as possible to spread the word to all students and invite [them] to come and participate,” he said.