Spencer Finley

Politics Editor

sjf5814@psu.edu

With the relatively recent start of the semester, the recent club showcases and the many flyers and recruitment efforts by Behrend’s student organizations, students at Behrend have likely wondered how to start a club. 

Starting a club involves a number of steps. According to Student Government Association Chief of Staff Mitchel Ray, the first thing that a student needs to do to start a club is to find a need for one. “There are approximately 10 or so Active Clubs. If a student cannot find a Club that interests them, then they can start a club,” Ray said in an email. 

After identifying the need for a club, Ray says that the next steps a student interested in starting a club must take is to identify interest in the club, find a qualified advisor for the club and select a slate of prospective officers. He says that “To start a Club, you need 10 active members, a full time faculty/staff Advisor, and the following Officers: President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary.” 

After assembling a corps of officers and prospective members, a developing club will need to talk to Ray and establish a constitution and club rules. He says that “Once a new club has their members listed above, I as the SGA Chief of Staff and Organizational Affairs Committee Director help them put together their club constitution and bylaws.” 

Even after the creation of a constitution, the club creation process isn’t finished; there are still more forms that need to be filled out. Ray continued, “After their Club Constitution is written out, I will help them fill out a New Student Organization Registration Form on Behrend Sync.”

After identifying the need for a club, finding enough interested students and someone who is both qualified and willing to serve as an advisor, going through the process of drafting a constitution and writing bylaws and finally filling out a form to register the club as official, the process is nearly complete.

All that is left to do is to seek the full approval of the Student Government Association; Ray said that, “After the club has filled out the form, I present said club and their constitution to the SGA Senate who can either recommend or not recommend said club to the Office of Student Leadership and Involvement.” 

These presentations usually involve the leader of the nascent club giving a brief speech before the SGA Senate and answering questions from members, followed by closed-door deliberations and a vote.