Iowa State student Kylee Valencia was discouraged from starting a club on campus due to the start-up process and administrative hurdles.
Students and staff, along with Valencia, discussed the requirements and the work club officers must do before and after starting a student organization.
Valencia, a sophomore in pre-athletic training, said she wanted to make an advanced tap dancing club before she realized how much work it was. The extensive demands of starting a club stopped her from starting her own.
“It took a lot of work. That made no sense to me,” Valencia said.
Kevin Merrill, assistant director for student organizations, said students can begin the process of starting a club whenever they want.
“They can go to the student organization database and start an organization there after they log in, and from there, it essentially lays out a checklist of things that they need to complete to be reviewed by our office,” Merrill said.
Merrill said the basic requirements, to begin, include having five members in the club: a president, an adviser, a treasurer, a constitution and an operations manual.
“There’s other things that I kind of classify as in for basic information, club purpose, contact information for the club, the name, those sorts of things, but that’s more like informational elements,” Merrill said.
Nova Stiles, a junior in technical communications and consultant for Student Organizations, said most of the people who come in for consultations get stuck creating a constitution and operations manual.
“We have guidelines and templates for that, but a lot of people I think struggle with trying to make it sound professional, which it doesn’t necessarily need to be,” Stiles said.
Stiles said he thinks the process is easy because the database holds your hand through every step.
“It will direct you to places where you can find resources like a consultation,” Stiles said. “And we have guidelines and templates, for the documents that you do have to create yourself. Those are provided, so you basically just fill in the blank with those.”
Stiles said he has had clubs that do not have enough people interested, but he can not remember anyone who has backed out because of the paperwork.
“So there are some that definitely kind of flounder because they can’t find enough members or they don’t have a staff adviser that’s interested or anything like that,” Stiles said.
Merrill said he is not sure why some people don’t finish the requirements to start a club.
“I think sometimes they don’t realize that there are requirements. They think it’s going to be mostly like a form they fill out and then they’re a club,” Merrill said.
Merrill said he wants students to know that the process takes a minimum of two weeks.
“For most organizations, if they’re serious, they can be recognized in about two months, start to finish,” Merrill said.
Valencia said she doesn’t know anyone who has started a club, but she is involved with clubs and knows club presidents.
“These clubs have been happening for a long time, which I love the idea of that, and I would love to eventually start that, but it’s a lot of work. I’m just gonna keep saying that. It’s a lot of work,” Valencia said.
Merrill said being an officer of a club can take a significant amount of time and effort.
“I want all students to know that any club that exists only exists because students have worked hard to make that happen and continue to do so,” Merrill said. “And [to] not take those leaders for granted there. They do real meaningful work for other students, and sometimes they don’t get a lot of thanks or praise. So I want to say thank you to all the student organization officers and leaders that put in the time to make student organizations great and Iowa State. I see the work. I know that they’re doing that work.”
Merrill said their office has student workers or full-time staff that will meet with students one-on-one to guide them through the process.
“I hope that students find the process as fairly transparent at least, and then at least they know what steps that they’re on or that they feel that they can ask and we’ll respond and help them understand what’s going on or what went wrong or where they’re at or what’s next,” Merrill said.
Students can reach out to the office by calling 515-294-8081 or emailing [email protected]. Students may also visit the student organization website to begin the process of starting a club or learn more about the requirements.
“If you have any questions, just reach out to the office because we kind of get bored in here and answering emails is like the best part of my day,” Stiles said.
