A bar might not be typically seen as an ideal place to conduct student government business, but for off-campus officials, the presence of beer and coffee is just what they need.

In an effort to attract constituents, the Off-Campus Government will hold meetings at the Maintenance Shop in the Memorial Union. The campus bar’s informal atmosphere will hopefully attract long-absent constituents to the meetings, said Cara Harris, Government of the Student Body off-campus senator.

“We wanted to hold the meetings somewhere that was easy to find, and most people that go to school here know where the M-Shop is,” she said. “I don’t really feel that students are interested in meeting with off-campus government. This is a way to get them interested.”

OCG is in the process of revamping and expanding; part of the change is the substitution of one of the OCG’s two regular monthly meetings with a more open, publicly accessible forum, Harris said.

On Feb. 11, the group will hold the first of its new style of meetings in the M-Shop, forgoing the usual process of convening in classrooms and offices across campus. However, the group will still hold one formal meeting a month in the Regency Room of the MU.

OCG officials hope the change in format and location will correct the lack of productivity which has been a major issue for the organization.

“The problem with the meetings is that we haven’t really been accomplishing much,” said Evan Visser, OCG vice president. “I think that, hopefully, we’ll get more done by doing this.”

OCG’s lack of past achievements was one of the factors that prompted Harris to continue revamping the program.

“Essentially, off-campus government is at a bit of a disadvantage as to how it can relate to its constituency,” said William Rock, off-campus senator. “Whereas other constituencies are more localized, ours are literally all over the city. It’s difficult to get them interested.”

In the past, Harris said, attracting the generally older off-campus students to attend the meeting had been difficult, which had resulted in the OCG not knowing the problems and issues effecting those they had been elected to represent.

“We’re going to have more of a Town Hall forum,” Rock said. “Basically, we want them to come in and sit down and we can field any questions they have about any issues.”