When I began my role as the Vice-President Services of the Nipissing University Student Union (NUSU), I immediately struggled with how to properly manage my institution’s Clubs program. On one hand, I could take a hands-off approach – occasionally checking in on the campus clubs, and hoping they govern themselves well. On the other, I could inject more structure into the program, build and create resources, and put in place a guideline and policy under which the clubs would govern themselves; thus ensuring the under NUSU operate well and continue to thrive year after year. With a desire for structure, the staff of the Nipissing University Student Union began laying the groundwork work to implement a Clubs policy.
Our approved Clubs policy has not only made a world of difference for our staff, but it has made the day-to-day operations and governing of our Clubs easier for those students who choose to participate in and lead them. The policy covers the rights, responsibilities and expectations of a campus club, the channels to go through to access NUSU and Nipissing University resources, funding grants, and proper financial management and bookkeeping. This helps both the Clubs program and myself stay accountable and on track throughout the year. I often consider myself lucky, for a couple of reasons; the first that NUSU had a blank slate to work with when we molded the Clubs program over the course of several months. The second, that we have amazing and dedicated staff, all of whom provided feedback, and whose thoughts and effort went into this project - their efforts are incorporated not solely in the Clubs policy, but in the resources that we created alongside it. Although I do have dedicated (and sometimes flexible) weekly office hours, there is no way to make sure that I am available to meet with every single one of the club presidents or executives one-on-one. Between their schedules as students, and mine as a student executive, nothing ever lines up exactly the way we want it to. Instead, we decided to institute a Clubs summit – a yearly meeting with all of the club executives in early September. The summit allowed for discussion with our clubs, familiarization with the new policy, and an introduction to the resources allocated to the Clubs program on campus. Though it seemed to be a big undertaking at first, instituting a summit is a project I would recommend for others in my position. Also, offer food and snacks when you plan a long meeting or event – students love food, and it’s almost always guaranteed to boost attendance. Finally, NUSU runs our Club Days/Clubs Week once or twice a year. We gauge this based on the popularity of our first run during the second week of classes in September, and if it is successful, we run another week during the second week of classes in January. This promotes not just the NUSU clubs program, but also allows for the clubs to get the word out, recruit students, and advertise the events that they have over the coming weeks and months. While we do help our clubs with resources, we encourage them to run events independently, and sign-up for those that we facilitate, including Club Days/Clubs Week. This is a practice that allows us to step in and help when need be, but really lends independence to the executive of all of our Clubs. It is extremely important to note that not only do Clubs provide an outlet for students, they help provide avenues for expanded social circles and extracurricular activities; as well as promoting ties with one’s chosen post-secondary institution. David Ratcliffe, Vice-President Services, Nipissing University Student Union
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Having been a part of student clubs and organizations for several years, I am very familiar with the huge rate of member turnover student groups experience from one year to the next. I originally found this refreshing, and noticed a resurgence of creative energy following every executive change up. High member turnover seemed to set the stage for change by bringing in new ideas and new perspectives, but it did not always guarantee that change would occur. Despite the continual desire for change and progress, I found that many student organizations remained stagnant. Many procedures would be maintained purely due to it “always having been done this way”. This was frustrating for me, as it seemed many traditions were needlessly bureaucratic and seemingly arbitrary. This brings me to the question many students and staff have asked themselves: Should we change or remain the same?
Although change can be good, it is not always easy. Change requires a lot of work and a lot of knowledge. You cannot walk into an organization and start changing things from day one. Change requires a firm understanding of the needs of the population you are serving, in addition to an understanding of the current resources at your disposal. This is the main reason change does not happen as much as one would predict. Knowledge seems to be lost from year to year. By the time students gain a firm understanding of their role, the year is over. It is easier for students to enter a position and use the wheel that has been left behind, than to engineer a new one. Although change can be difficult, it should not be avoided because of the above reasons. My recommendation to students and staff wanting to implement change is to first answer these three questions:
Change is good, as long as it is purposeful. Jennifer Halden Clubs Administrative Coordinator Central Student Association, University of Guelph Something I’ve learned in my short time as a student group admin is that students – and especially those who are running student groups – are a lot more capable than we think. It’s important to remember that they are capable adults, despite being greener than us, and to make decisions based on an understanding of them like peers in this way. This peer-ish mentality also makes it easier to enforce accountability later on, if the group crosses a line: hold their hands too much, and blame can more easily be put on the administrators instead of the students. I graduated in 2015, so it wasn’t so long ago that I was one of those students running a student group, jumping through the hoops that I now set. Often, it’s still surreal for me to think of myself as an advisor or authority, because I feel like more of a peer to them than anything. This feeling, along with my experience as a peer tutor at the campus writing centre, is what helps encourage me to think instead from a student perspective when developing policy and procedure updates.
Take, for instance, our campus’ student group recognition procedure. Completed annually, an incoming student group executive team is required to submit updated information about the club: names and contact info for the new executive team, the number or roster of current members, signing authorities for the club, that kind of thing. To facilitate this process, a student group president or other exec leader must complete a 5-8 page electronic form through an online portal. Review, completed by our staff, happens within 2-4 weeks of receiving the forms. This is required to permit the club to apply for grants, host events and reserve spaces on campus, among other privileges. Depending on the nature of the student group, the student may have to provide additional documentation from any external organizations with which their club is affiliated, and/or provide contact information for faculty advisors. The greatest delays in this process are these last two items: currently, if a group is affiliated with an external organization, they have to complete an agreement letter to ensure that the organization will maintain adequate distance from the student group’s operations; if a club has a faculty advisor, we contact that faculty to confirm, similar to a job reference. If either of these third-party entities are slow to respond, this holds up the student group’s recognition process. Coming in to 2017, we’ve taken this 5-8 page form and boiled it down to 3-4 pages, depending on the student group type (a fraternity versus a dance club have slightly different requirements), which in turn has simplified our back-end administration records. While some groups have slightly different recognition requirements, most of the info we ask for is the same and the onus is put on the student group. Behind this change was a desire to provide students with additional autonomy and simplicity in the recognition process. By shortening this process with a few quick, but thought-out changes, we foresee the recognition procedure speeding up significantly. It comes down to trusting the students to figure things out and ask questions if they need additional clarifications, being intentional with the way we set and reset systems, and noticing when the same question crops up repeatedly. They’re smart: otherwise, we wouldn’t be seeing them. Kristin LaGrange, Assistant Program Lead, Student Group Services University of Alberta |
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