With over 150 student organizations on Eastern Michigan University's campus, there’s a group for everybody — but if someone can’t find exactly what they’re looking for, they can always start their own.
Gathering the team
The first step is to find two other people to be executive board members and one professor or staff member to be an advisor.
The E-Board members have to have specific titles and roles, including one president and two of the following based on the organization's need: vice president, treasurer, social media coordinator, member at large and more.
If there are complications in finding an advisor, the student can reach out to Campus Life for support.
Establishing the rules
The next step is to develop a constitution and bylaws.
These are very important as they state the mission of the group and the specific jobs each board member needs to accomplish.
If there are ever problems within the organization, the students can refer back to the bylaws.
A template for these laws can be found on the "Start an Org" page under resources.
Standing out
The third step is submitting the application to Campus Life, detailing why this organization should exist and why it’s different from other groups that may be similar. With so many orgs on campus already, it’s important to differentiate new ones.
Juniper Bamrick, Campus Life coordinator, said competition is not good for student orgs, and a new one will not be successful if it’s too similar to an existing one.
In order to make sure any new ideas are different enough, check out the group profiles on Eagle Sync. While submitting the application, the E-Board and advisor forms also need to be filled out and submitted.
Making a mark
The last step of the process is having a new student org meeting with a Campus Life staff member. This explains the resources Campus Life offers and how they can help if the group needs anything.
Traditionally, student orgs are defined as a group run by students, for students.
The orgs are generally placed into two different categories. One is interest based, centered around a hobby, game, book, genre, fandom — anything that people like. The other type is centered around an identity, such as race, gender or sexuality.
“Having a community or a passion is a great reason to start an org,” Bamrick said.
However, if starting a whole new organization seems like too daunting of a task, students can form a subcommittee within an existing organization. As long as the student leaders of the group are okay with it, subcommittees can be formed without any registration at all.
“Subcommittees are a great way to test things,” Bamrick said. "If the subcommittee gains enough members, then eventually it can form its own organization."
There are many benefits to being registered as an official org: a $300 fund that can go to supplies or custom merchandise, meeting rooms, storage space, getting shoutouts on Loop and having a table at Eagle Fest.
