Last Friday, the Committee on Student Activities (COSA) announced that it will resume the club proposal process, allowing students to submit applications for new clubs. According to COSA Chair Allen Zheng ’21, the Committee reopened the process after receiving comments on COSA’s feedback form last December from students expressing their interest in starting new clubs.
Assistant Director of Student Activities Ms. Colleen Kazar said that the club proposal process was suspended in the fall term to gain insight into how to better support and communicate with existing clubs amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which has upended the ways students learn and socialize.
COSA member Rhea Shah ’22, also mentioned that newly formed clubs in the fall would have had a noticeable disadvantage. “Since we saw returning, well-established clubs having trouble maintaining attendance throughout the spring of last year, we wanted to wait until we got further into this school year to start the club proposal process, in order to give new clubs their best shot at success.”
After monitoring clubs throughout the fall term and receiving feedback from club leaders, the committee members felt that they should reopen the application process to support new clubs, all of which will have to start with virtual meetings.
COSA is optimistic that clubs will be able to navigate this process and continue to successfully operate virtually. Ms. Kazar encouraged students to start new clubs for their interests and offered some advice for those looking to do so. “Tell your classmates or the kids that live in [your] dorm what [you’re] trying to initiate on campus, and try to get as much interest ahead of time so that once the club is accepted or approved, you’ll have good club membership,” she said.
Ms. Kazar also noted that students interested in joining these newly created clubs can access COSA’s new Club and Organization Zoom Meeting Directory to find meeting times and Zoom links for existing clubs. She said, “We’ll post that on BoarCast every week, so students who are new or students who are just looking for ways to get involved should go to that directory.”
