OSU Student-Initiated Clubs
--Getting involved with campus life by creating a new club
By: Hannah Lull
Nov. 3, 2021
Note: this is unpublished work. This article was not published because it was a class assignment
Oregon State University offers the opportunity for students to start their own clubs year-round with an online application process, allowing them to pursue their passions and interests that aren’t currently being offered.
Students can fill out an online application and it generally takes up to two weeks to hear back from the Student Experiences & Engagement office. After the application is submitted, the time it takes for new club approval varies from student to student depending on the subject and the student’s priorities.
Danté Holloway, Assistant Director of Student Organizations works closely with students who are interested in clubs or starting a new one.
“I’ve worked with groups for whom, from application to approval, it’s taken less than a day,” Holloway said. “Others [can] take weeks, months, or never complete the process.”
OSU currently offers 339 student-initiated clubs, whereas there are only 25 department-run organizations. OSU offers numerous clubs, ranging from the smallest of interests to bigger, more time-consuming passions. Although there are plenty to choose from, there are interests that aren’t already being pursued and many students have already jumped into starting the application process this year.
“So far, there have been 13 new clubs established this year and we are actively working with 47 other groups who have submitted new club applications,” Holloway said. “Which is already more than we typically work with during a full academic year.”
Students are able to apply from fall to spring term, as the office continuously checks for new applications.
“We’ll likely end up with 400-450 total clubs by the end of the school year,” Holloway predicted.
Within these Recognized Students Organizations, there are two subclassifications: University Student Organizations (USO’s) and Affiliated Student Organizations (ASO’s). Each club differs slightly with the initiation process depending on the classification.
Brittany Nefcy, Student Involvement Coordinator says these subclassifications were just created July 1 and it’s been difficult for students to understand the difference between USO’s and ASO’s.
“Right now, people starting new clubs potentially are either operating off of older information and they haven't considered the new information of what it means to be a club on campus or they have read through the information and they’re not really sure on what to be,” Nefcy explained.
USO’s are legally a part of OSU, meaning they get university insurance and require a faculty mentor. ASO’s are a separate entity from OSU and may need to get their own insurance but don’t require a faculty member.
“Often something that people haven’t thought through is that you can’t get recognized as an USO if you don’t have a faculty mentor,” Nefcy said. “There are some instances where we’ve made it through almost the entire recognition process except they can’t get approved because they don’t have a faculty mentor.”
The only requirements for a faculty mentor are that they’re currently employed by OSU and are willing to take on the responsibility of leading the club.
Nefcy explains this new application process is why they haven’t been promoting clubs or encouraging students to start their own as frequently as they used to. “Normally my role does more around general encouragement of students to get involved but that has had to be put aside to process some of the [new] changes,” Necfy said.
Drop-in involvement advising is still available at this time for students to get more information about current clubs or other ways to get involved in campus life.
“I really like helping people and it’s really fun because most of my job is to help the clubs do the things they’re doing,” Nefcy said, explaining why she loves her job. “There are so many groups and we’re sort of creating micro-communities across the whole OSU community.”
These communities are what bring OSU together as students can bond over any interest or passion, no matter how big or small it is.
“We even have The Corgi Appreciation Club. They just meet to appreciate corgis,” Nefcy said.
Lyell Read, president of the Security Club furthered his interest in cyber security and computers by joining the club in 2018. He didn’t know much about the topic but decided it was a good way to get involved.
“I didn’t know anything about it but it ended up being very rewarding,’’ Read said.
On October 29th, the club launched the CTF League, a weekend event open to the public. They designed a system where they could hack in and play a virtual capture the flag game where members come to play against each other.
When asked if students should join a club or start their own, Read was enthusiastic to share how much this club has shaped him through his college journey.
“Do it! I was just doing computer science and I got interested in cyber security. It literally changed what I’m studying,” Read said, as he is now a cyber security major.
Second-year students, Ben Harmon and Leah Richards also speak on their knowledge of OSU’s clubs. Neither of them are involved in any at the moment.
“I feel like I’m obligated to join a club because it is a resume stacker,” Harmon said. “Although at the same time, it does get you more involved with the campus and campus life.”
When asked about starting their own clubs, Harmon and Richards weren’t very interested and didn’t know much about the application process.
“I feel like it wouldn’t be that hard to look up how to start a club, however it may be beneficial for someone interested to have more accessible information about starting a club,” Richards said.
Harmon explains he would have to be extremely passionate about something to take the lead to start a new club, as he does acknowledge that it’s a lot of work.
Although they might not start their own clubs, both Harmon and Richards are open to the idea of potentially joining one as they agree that it’s a good way to meet new people and engage in the community.