Students looking for a ride to Chicago for the weekend or a roommate for next semester will soon need not look farther than the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Nick Skipitaris, chair of the Student Senate’s housing committee, is organizing the construction of a new rider/roommate board, to be located across from the First Mid-Illinois Bank branch on the second floor of the union.

With the rider/roommate board, students will be able to post requests for rides around the state, as well as requests for travel companions

“I think it really sucks not to have a car when you want to go somewhere,” Skipitaris said. “But maybe someone is going there at the same time. If I needed to give a ride or get a ride, I could go to this board.”

Requests for roommates also will be posted on the board.

“If you can’t afford to advertise in The Daily Eastern News, you can go to the board and use it,” Skipitaris said.

The old rider/roommate board, installed near the food court a few years ago by Senate Speaker Adam Weyhaupt, was hardly ever used because of lack of publicity, he said.

“People were like `what is this?'” he said.

Skipitaris said he will work hard to publicize the new board by posting signs in residence halls and by placing advertisements in The Daily Eastern News.

Skipitaris said another problem with the old board was that no one monitored it.

“No one really watched it to see if people were getting their rides or even using it,” he said.

Under a bylaw change passed by the Student Senate last week, the chair of the senate housing committee is now charged with monitoring and maintaining the board.

Skipitaris said the new board will open as soon as university workers get around to constructing it.

“I’ve been waiting since the week I got back from spring break, (for the workers to construct the board),” he said.