Clubs come and go every year at Georgetown. But, unless they voluntarily forfeit their Access to Benefits rights granted by the Student Activities Commission, a club that is virtually defunct can remain in limbo in the eyes of their SAC commissioners for as long as a semester or two. Such was the case with the Pakistani Students Association and the Cuban American Students Association.
Concerned that student money is going to fund clubs with shrinking or inactive membership bodies, SAC Vice-Chair Juliana Pugliese (COL `10) said that she and SAC Chair Aakib Khaled (SFS `10) would like to establish more uniform rules for clubs, such as requiring them to host a certain number of events and meetings per semester. Pugliese said these policy proposals are part of SAC’s push to reinvent itself as an advisory board rather than just a funding board.
Khaled said that they hope to implement the new guidelines within the next year. The proposed guidelines would also function as suggestions for new group leaders who “often flounder trying to figure out how to engage the rest of their membership,” according to Pugliese.
“It’s not sufficient just to ‘kill off’ clubs that would get a negative performance evaluation,” Pugliese said. “We want to make sure people aren’t just receiving e-mails from their clubs, that they’re getting together and actually touching base.”
Pugliese said SAC is also considering expanding clubs’ $190 standard operating budget, which the Commission gives to each club at the start of every year, only $100 of which goes toward social events to encourage them to plan more activities.
SAC approved several clubs at the beginning of this year, including the Georgetown Flying Club for plane enthusiasts, the Vietnamese Students Association, and United Feminists. As for which clubs won’t be around next year, it’s hard to tell.
“Every year Georgetown tends to have a couple of organizations ‘fall off the map,’” Bill McCoy, the faculty adviser to SAC, said. “Without expectations of general meetings and any formal requirement to submit membership lists, it is difficult to project what organizations might cease to exist next year.”
Club leaders have mixed feelings about SAC taking on a greater advisory role. Laura Kresse (SFS `12), the Treasurer of GU Pride, said that while she enjoys a good working relationship with her commissioner, she would rather her club’s interaction with SAC be limited to funding. Fitz Lufkin (COL `11), the Vice-President of the GU College Democrats, was cautiously optimistic about SAC’s proposed changes, which he supports as long as they don’t become overbearing.
McCoy said that this idea has been in the works for a few years and does not aim to make clubs more uniform. Technically, McCoy pointed out, clubs already must fulfill a set of basic requirements, such as having a membership of at least 12 students, although these existing rules are loosely enforced.
Molly-To clarify, the Flying Club was admitted into the new club development process but is not officially a club, however VSA and United Feminists are.