The Muslim Student Organization elected seven new executive board members Thursday.

This board is unique from those of prior years.

“The biggest difference and improvement of the executive board this year is that most positions are dominated by women,” Public Relations chair Alhussain Yusuf said. “It’s excellent. The transfer of leadership from men to women hopefully can make some difference this year.”

The MSO executive board holds members’ meetings every two weeks and general body meetings monthly.

“We officers usually meet every other week to review past events, talk about improvements and discuss our coming events, airing all the details like locations, what kinds of activities to hold and how meetings are going to run,” MSO President Farah El-Jayyousi said. “During the general body meetings, we have different activities like playing games or having diversity peer educator facilitation.”

With other events, the executive board brings Muslim students together to focus on friendship and education, Treasurer Salman Mahmood said in an email. They hold events to educate students about Islam and other faiths, allowing members to meet with people of different teachings.

“It’s really helpful to establish a relationship with other organizations on campus,” El-Jayyousi said. “I think this board can provide both of these things by interacting with people about us every day.”

In the next couple of weeks, the new executive board will host many educational and social events.

From April 19-20, MSO will have its annual spring conference, “Building Bridges, Connecting Individuals,” which is open to the whole Columbia community.

“We will bring four unique speakers (from) around the country,” Education Committee chair Tahura Lodhi said. “They will speak to us about diversity issues like activism, giving back to your community, holding strong to your faith and so on.”

The last Halaqa this semester, a monthly event, will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Multicultural Center. A Halaga is an informal gathering, in which someone knowledgeable presents a story or gives a lecture to the group on topics pertaining to Islam, Yusuf said in an email.

These events bring Muslim students together for friendship and education, Mahmood said in an email.

“I think that MSO brings people together in a college scenario where we can all relate and come together,” Mahmood said. “(The organization encourages) making many friends and taking initiative to progress the student body as a whole to do things for their community, as well as other communities.”

Members of the executive board said they hope more and more non-Muslim students can get involved.

“Muslim Student Organization is for everyone,” Yusuf said.