Starting a Club or Organization on Campus
This article encourages students to transform their newfound or existing hobbies into campus communities by starting clubs themselves.
By Xavier Royer — April 29, 2024
Many students have plenty of time over the summer between finishing high school and starting college, as they no longer have the athletics or other activities tied to high school, nor do they have the responsibilities or goals of college students. It is easy to imagine students picking up new hobbies with all the extra time. Maybe a student binges on Queen's Gambit and picks up chess in a serious way. Or maybe a random trip to Jo Anne's Fabric results in a curiosity-turned-obsession with knitting.
Whether the hobby or extracurricular is old or new, many students will arrive on campus hoping to continue those activities in a formal community. Chess.com offers great tools and resources for new players, but jamming anonymous games against strangers is far less fun than playing across from a person with real wooden pieces. Knitting can also be amplified by a group, particularly as a catalyst for learning new techniques and patterns. It could be deflating to show up to campus only to find no such community exists. Rather than sulk away and accept defeat, this article will offer another solution: start the club yourself. Clubs must start somewhere, and there is no reason students should not just take it upon themselves.
Understanding the Requirements and Finding a Sponsor
The first step is going to the powers that be, usually "student services" or a similarly named entity, and identifying what students need to do to start a club. Usually, the bar to entry is low — more student organizations is a good talking point for pitching the university to new students. At my current university, clubs only need four members minimum to make up the cabinet positions: president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary.
There may be other requirements if you plan on competing with other universities through the club — you can imagine our chess fans may want to compete against other local schools, and with that are probably some other considerations to ensure the university can ensure their brand is represented responsibly. One common requirement for student organizations across campuses is having a faculty sponsor. Most departments have at least one faculty member who is probably happy to sign the form, as sometimes it can help with their application for tenure and other considerations for their job. However, ensure the faculty member understands their responsibility — if a brawl breaks out amongst our knitters, that faculty member will be on the hook.
Budget and Advertising
Raising money can be a bit of a battle, depending on the club. Our knitters are probably ok just self-supplying their supplies. Our chess players will need some chess boards, which can be found cheaply. What if our chess club wants to travel to compete against other schools? Now, we might need some dough to pay entry fees, rent a vehicle and pay for gas, get food, and rent a hotel if necessary. Old-school fundraising, like bake sales, is always an option, but clubs should also look for grants as well. One of our student government's primary functions is giving grants to student organizations. Before doing anything, clear any money-making ventures with the powers that be.
This also goes with advertising for your club. The point of a club is to have a community to do an activity with. For this to work, getting the word out that the club exists is important. Be aggressive with flyers and established social media if you have an in. Just be sure whatever you do goes through the university, as there is usually an approval process everything needs to go through. In terms of social media, starting a new social media page (get this approved as well) and trying to boost that way can be a lot more effort than it's worth. Social media is usually a better tool for the group to make announcements or as a record of accomplishments when needing to justify a grant or something along those lines.
Leadership
Finally, while clubs do not need to have the same structure as the ones at my university, there should be at least one or two leadership roles. You can also be creative in choosing these roles — we do a club vote that is slightly influenced by seniority in the club I am a faculty sponsor. But, leadership positions can be critical to a club's success. Dedicated leaders help make decisions when there is a lot of apathy or difficulty reaching a consensus. They should also have a vision for the club and will be the driving force moving the club forward. This is often where drama can pop up in clubs, so be sure to be transparent about how these positions work and put individuals in leadership roles who will try to be impartial.
Xavier Royer
I am currently a full time instructor at a William Penn University, a small private university in Iowa. I am the lone political science faculty member there. In my time teaching, I have already connected with an incredible cohort of students in ways I could never have expected. Partnering with SAGE will allow me the opportunity to help even more students across the globe navigate those tricky questions.
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