Campus Groups on Campus
A couple of weeks ago the USSU Executive attended a student conference sponsored by our health and dental insurance provider, Studentcare.net/works. One of the most interesting things I discussed while at the Student Care conference in Montreal was the many different ways in which Student Unions can support student groups on campus.
Campus groups are always looking for more members and I have several ideas to facilitate meeting that need. First, improving the online club listing would be a great start. Our current webpage that lists all the clubs that have been ratified with the USSU has served us well but contains opportunities for improvement: USSU Campus Group List. A better example, and one that I would like to model is the listing that can be found on the McGill website: McGill Example. Second, we are going to have some great opportunities for campus groups to get involved in both Orientation and Welcome Week to help recruit new students, so stay tuned for that.
The ratification process for groups is also something about which I receive a lot of comments. I am currently looking into improving the online form that groups use to ratify by removing some of the unnecessary fields and adding more instructions and hints on how to fill it out correctly. If you have any ideas on how to make this process easier each year (or to just prove that anyone reads my blog), then please email me at vpopfin@ussu.ca. Finally, the USSU can provide resources on how to plan events or successfully run a group. I will be putting some of these resources online in the coming weeks.
Campus Clubs are a great way to get involved in your campus community. There are more than a hundred of them and so there is something for everyone, but if you don’t see one that appeals to you, think about starting one in support of your particular interest.
