So many campus groups, so few members
Issue date: 3/10/10 Section: Opinion
It's the student activities fair-there's rrRumba, SIFE, SEA, SMAC, The Network, Drumline, Amnesty International, Ripon Outdoor Club and a whole host of other enticing options. What do you do?
Perhaps you might sign up for a couple that suit your interests, or you might be paralyzed by indecision in the face of all these options.
On Ripon College's campus there is no shortage of student activities and groups. What there is a shortage of is enough interest and involvement to cultivate strong groups that last. We're suffering from an over-load of groups, and the trend just looks to continue.
This problem is one that arises out of a positive aspect of Ripon's student life structure. Virtually anyone has the power to craft their own student organization, a great selling feature that is not lost on admissions in their pitch to prospective students.
This is a great power, but one that has also led to weakening of existing groups. In order to exercise that privilege responsibly, students should consider if the purpose of their group could be combined with one that already exists so that groups do not weaken with a loss of members until they die out.
This over-abundance of groups is not the only aspect of the issue. There seem to be two kinds of Ripon College students: those who are hyper-involved and those who are not at all involved. In order to make the large number of student groups viable over time, we also need to develop more involvement among students.
This means that the effort must be two-fold. Student groups are doing a good job of putting themselves out there in the view of students, from mini-group fairs on Accepted Student Days to the campus-wide event in the fall; everyone knows that they are out there.
One other strategy might include flyers advertising the purpose of the group and its activities and goals being displayed periodically as the year progresses, to jog people's memories of what groups there are and what exactly they do in case some students are unaware.
Perhaps you might sign up for a couple that suit your interests, or you might be paralyzed by indecision in the face of all these options.
On Ripon College's campus there is no shortage of student activities and groups. What there is a shortage of is enough interest and involvement to cultivate strong groups that last. We're suffering from an over-load of groups, and the trend just looks to continue.
This problem is one that arises out of a positive aspect of Ripon's student life structure. Virtually anyone has the power to craft their own student organization, a great selling feature that is not lost on admissions in their pitch to prospective students.
This is a great power, but one that has also led to weakening of existing groups. In order to exercise that privilege responsibly, students should consider if the purpose of their group could be combined with one that already exists so that groups do not weaken with a loss of members until they die out.
This over-abundance of groups is not the only aspect of the issue. There seem to be two kinds of Ripon College students: those who are hyper-involved and those who are not at all involved. In order to make the large number of student groups viable over time, we also need to develop more involvement among students.
This means that the effort must be two-fold. Student groups are doing a good job of putting themselves out there in the view of students, from mini-group fairs on Accepted Student Days to the campus-wide event in the fall; everyone knows that they are out there.
One other strategy might include flyers advertising the purpose of the group and its activities and goals being displayed periodically as the year progresses, to jog people's memories of what groups there are and what exactly they do in case some students are unaware.
Be the first to comment on this story