November 29, 2007 Meeting--Sports Club Issues On The Horizon

1. Student Organization Categories

Chris Najmi and David Hoffman reported that they had met last week and sorted all of the recognized student organizations into the new scheme of categories created by the Committee at its previous meeting. The Committee reviewed the list, made a few corrections, and approved sending it out to all student organizations for their review. Student organizations will be invited to provide feedback and request category changes if needed.

2. Applications for Recognition

The Committee reviewed constitutions submitted by UMBC TV and the Emergency Health Services Council of Majors, and asked Chris Najmi to request that the groups make minor revisions for clarity.

3. Application for Constitution Change

The Committee reviewed and approved the amended constitution submitted by Filmmakers Anonymous. Because the purpose of the organization is to watch and discuss films, the Committee asked me to remind the group about its responsibility to comply with copyright laws and licensing requirements.

4. Sports Clubs

The Committee began what promises to be a series of discussions aimed at resolving longstanding issues regarding the status of Sports Clubs. The Sports Clubs category maintained by the Office of Student Life and SGA has no official definition, but placement in that category has an important consequence: Sports Clubs are not eligible for SGA funding except for events directed at the entire campus, because they are expected to be coordinated and supported by the Athletics Department. Yet the Athletics Department has denied privileges and funding to several groups already in that category, leaving them with very limited campus support for their activities. The Committee discussed the need to get clarification from the Athletics Department about its criteria for supporting a Sports Club, and to develop a recognition process that does not result in the creation of more clubs that exist in name but lack access to funding and campus support.

November 15, 2007 Meeting--New Student Org Categories

1. Applications for Recognition

The Committee decided to recommend recognition of the following new organizations:

Black Artists Society (funded, Special Interest)
Russian Club (funded, Cultural/Ethnic)
Amnesty International (funded, Political/Social Activism)
Women’s Lacrosse Team (restricted, Sports/Recreation)

In addition, the Committee reviewed another draft of the American Studies Council of Majors Constitution and asked Chris Najmi to set up a meeting with its President to discuss needed revisions.

2. Student Organization Categories

The Committee agreed on several changes to the system of student organization categories designed to make the categories more accurate and descriptive. The changes will be as follows:

a. The Political/Social Activism and Service categories will be replaced by a category for Political organizations and a category for Service/Social Action organizations.

b. There will be three new categories: Arts/Performance, Career/Professional and Hobbies.

c. The Special Interest category will be eliminated.

As a result of these changes, the entire set of categories will be as follows:

Academic/Departmental
Arts/Performance
Career/Professional
Cultural/Ethnic
Governance
Greek
Hobbies
Honor Societies
Intellectual Sports
Media
Political
Religion/Spirituality
Service/Social Action
Sports/Recreation

The Committee discussed the possibility of dividing the Arts/Performance category into separate Arts and Performance categories, but will wait for feedback from student organizations before making such a change. In addition, the Committee discussed the possibility of distinguishing between groups organized to compete in athletic events and groups organized around members’ interests as sports fans. The Committee agreed to defer any change to the existing Sports/Recreation category until after working with the Athletics Department and SGA to resolve outstanding issues relating to the management and funding of sports and recreation activities on campus.

The next step in the process of changing the student organization categories is to tentatively reassign organizations based on the new system, which the Committee will do at its next meeting on November 29^th. Between now and the 29^th, Chris Najmi, Nayana Davis and I will work up a proposed list of assignments for the Committee to review. Once the Committee has approved the tentative assignments, we will send an e-mail out to all student organizations soliciting feedback and inviting requests to be moved to a different category.

November 8, 2007 Meeting

1. Applications for Recognition

The Committee received no new applications for recognition, but considered revised Constitutions for the following organizations:

Filmmakers Anonymous
Pre-Vet Society
Emergency Health Services Council of Majors
Tau Sigma Honor Society

In every case, the Committee identified minor problems, the resolution of which should result in swift approval.

2. Air Force ROTC

The students seeking to launch the Air Force ROTC organization submitted a Constitution earlier in the month which included the standard nondiscrimination clause:

“Membership in this organization may not be denied because of race, color, age, sex, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, disabled veteran or veteran, national origin or religion.”

The nondiscrimination clause is not required for recognition, but any sort of discrimination in selecting members has an impact on whether an organization is eligible for SGA funding. Chris Najmi had sent the group an e-mail on the Student Organizations Committee’s behalf asking Air Force ROTC whether it planned to enforce the United States government’s policies regarding the sexual orientation of members of the military. As Chris reported at today’s meeting, the Air Force ROTC’s response was ambiguous. Chris will follow up by asking specific questions about whether being openly gay would result in denial of membership in the organization.

3. Record-Keeping

The Committee discussed the fact that the paper files on student organizations maintained by the Student Involvement Center do not contain much of the information that is now routinely handled electronically, including registration forms submitted after organizations have received formal recognition from UMBC. Committee members agreed that it would be useful to have complete paper files on each organization, and Erin Carter will follow up by working with her staff to create paper versions of all information stored in electronic form.

4. Process Change for Recognition Applications

The Committee asked Chris Najmi to develop and provide Sheryl Gibbs with an information sheet to be provided to organizations submitting applications for recognition to the Office of Student Life. The information sheet will advise the organization to send an electronic copy of its proposed Constitution to Chris for an initial review and consultation before it the application is considered by the full Committee. The Committee anticipates that this change will make the recognition process quicker and easier for both the organizations submitting applications and the Committee.

5. Student Organization Categories

The Committee agreed that members would come to next week’s meeting with proposed student organization categories to supplement or replace the existing categories (Academic/Departmental, Greek Life, etc.). Committee members expressed particular interest in replacing the existing Special Interest category with several more accurate and descriptive category names reflecting the various types of organizations now lumped together in that category.

October 25 and November 1, 2007 Meetings--4 New Orgs and a Dispute Resolved

1. Applications for Recognition

The Committee has decided to recommend recognition of three new student organizations:

Modeling Club (funded, Special Interest)

UMBC Executive Club (funded, Academic/Departmental)

Media and Communications Studies Council of Majors (funded, Academic/Departmental)

The Committee also accepted a revised Constitution from the Political Science Council of Majors and affirmed its previous recommendation for the group's recognition as a funded, Academic/Departmental organization.

In addition, the Committee considered applications from the following organizations and asked them to make revisions to their Constitutions:

Amnesty International (1^st and 2^nd submissions)

Black Artists’ Society (2^nd submission)

Air Force ROTC

Russian Club

Pre-Veterinary Society

Also, I reported to the Committee that the dispute between the two organizations claiming to be entitled to the name and/or funds of Filmmakers’ Anonymous has been resolved successfully. One of the organizations will retain the name, while the other—the UMBC Film Crew—will inherit the carryover account. The Committee considered the UMBC Film Crew’s application for recognition and Filmmakers’ Anonymous’ proposed new Constitution, and asked Chris Najmi to work with both organizations on needed revisions to their Constitutions.

2. What Counts as a Membership Restriction?

The Committee has made a couple of initial determinations about membership restrictions in relation to organizations’ funding status. One is that an organization can limit membership based on participation—for example, requiring attendance at two consecutive meetings before allowing a student to vote in the organization’s elections—without losing its funded status. The other is that an organization can place restrictions on the holders of officer positions—for example, requiring officers to have minimum GPAs or junior standing—without losing its funded status. These determinations reflect the Committee’s interpretation of SGA’s Student Organizations Policy.