October 18, 2007 Meeting--Do the Current Stu Org Categories Make Sense?

1. Applications for Recognition

The Committee considered new applications for recognition from the Black Artists Society and the UMBC Executive Club. Representatives from the two organizations attended the meeting, responded to questions about their Constitutions and received suggestions from the Committee. Both will resubmit their Constitutions with amendments based on the discussion.

The Political Science Council of Majors submitted revisions to its Constitution, but the revisions raised more issues than they resolved. Chris Najmi will contact the organization to discuss a resolution to the problem.

2. Student Organization Categories

The Committee discussed the practice of placing student organizations into categories like Religion/Spirituality and Cultural/Ethnic. The primary significance of most of the categories (other than Greek Life and Sports Clubs, for which there are special processes and restrictions) is that they help students to identify organizations they might be interested in joining. The Committee talked about whether a reconfigured category system with different or additional names might better serve that purpose. For example, the existing Special Interest category is a hodgepodge of organizations that do not belong in any of the other categories; maybe it would be possible to rename or reconfigure the categories so the Special Interest organizations would belong in other, more descriptive categories. Committee members agreed to come to next week's meeting (October 25^th) with ideas about potential alternatives to the existing category scheme.

If you have thoughts about how to improve upon the existing scheme of student organizations categories, feel free to share them with the Committee by sending an e-mail to studentorgscomm@umbc.edu.

October 11, 2007 Meeting--What Counts as a Membership Restriction?

1. Applications for Recognition

The Committee voted to recommend recognition of Alpha Phi Omega as a Restricted-Funded Service organization, and the Political Science Council of Majors (which had its recognition revoked last month) as a Funded Political/Social Activism organization. The Political Science Council of Majors recommendation is tentative pending minor revisions to the organization’s Constitution.

The Committee received new applications for recognition from Best Buddies and Women’s Club Lacrosse (both of which had their recognition revoked last month), and from Get Up. Katie Nolan from Women’s Club Lacrosse attended the meeting and responded to questions about the group’s application and plans to resubmit the Constitution with minor revisions. Chris Najmi will follow up with the other organizations regarding issues with their Constitutions.

Based on the usefulness of the conversation with Katie Nolan, the Committee decided to invite the Presidents of all organizations applying for recognition to meet with the Committee when it considers their applications.

2. Alpha Nu Omega Sorority, Inc.

The Committee met with the two members/officers of Alpha Nu Omega Sorority and answered questions relating to the revocation of its recognition. In accordance with SGA policy, the group’s carryover account will remain in place for two years, and if its officers are successful in recruiting new members and reapplying for recognition the group can ask SGA to restore its access to the carryover funds.

3. What Counts as a Membership Restriction?

SGA’s Student Organizations Policy identifies any organization that is not “open to all UMBC undergraduate students,” or has “selection criteria,” as a limited-funded organization. The Committee discussed the ambiguity of these phrases as they apply to some organizations’ practices. For example, if an organization allows anyone to join but states that only members with certain characteristics (e.g., with a certain major) can hold an officer position, should the organization be considered a limited-funded organization? What about an organization which accepts anyone as a member, but requires auditions to play certain central roles in the organization’s activities? The Committee agreed that this is a complicated issue requiring further discussion.

October 4, 2007 Meeting--Revocation Revisited, 2 Filmmakers Anonymous Groups

1. Revocation Revisited

Erin Hundley and David Hoffman reported that of the 60 organizations that had their recognition revoked last month, only a few have raised questions and just two challenged the decisions. Each of those two organizations had received multiple warnings about their impending loss of recognition and failed to take action before the deadline. One of them—Women’s Club Lacrosse—identified some communication problems involving the Athletics Department, which the Office of Student Life will work to resolve. However, the Student Organizations Committee affirmed its previous conclusion that the organizations received the information they needed and could have complied with the registration deadline. Like any organization that has lost its recognition, they now have the opportunity to submit a new application for recognition.

The Scheduling Office has released all space reservations held by the 60 groups that have lost recognition.

2. Filmmakers Anonymous

The Committee learned that two different organizations submitted budget proposals to SGA under the name Filmmakers Anonymous. Each organization—one that has been calling itself the UMBC Film Crew, the other Image Movers--views itself as the successor to Filmmakers Anonymous, which was active several years ago. An investigation after the meeting revealed that Filmmakers Anonymous has not submitted a registration form since at least 2005-2006, and has not spent SGA or carryover funds at least since 2004-2005, suggesting that both of the active organizations will have to apply for UMBC recognition as new organizations. David will follow up with the two groups.

3. Applications for Recognition

The Committee considered new applications for recognition from the Cooking Club, the U.S. Air Force ROTC and Tau Sigma (an honor society), and from two organizations that recently had their recognition revoked: the Political Science Council of Majors and Pi Sigma Alpha honor society. The Committee asked Chris Najmi to request changes to various clauses in the organizations’ Constitutions (mainly to clarify the process of becoming a member and officers’ duties), and will reconsider the groups’ applications once the changes have been made.