Start A New Organization

CAMPUS LIFE RECOGNITION AND AFFILIATION PROCEDURES

Campus Life reserves the right to delegate Recognition and Affiliation review to the Club Review Board (CRB). The Club Review Board meets weekly during the year to discuss new groups. The board is comprised of ten student clubs and two advisors – the student clubs are rotated each semester and chosen at random per category. In addition, the two advisors are comprised of the Clubs & Organizations Team.

The President of RIT reserves the right to review all Applications for Club Recognition and Affiliation and make the final decision.

Student groups who do not have a minimum of 10 members, club officers or advisors may not apply for Pre-Recognition status. Groups who have been previously denied Recognition are not eligible to apply for Pre-Recognition status within one calendar year. Pre-recognized groups are entitled to 3 months from the application date to present to the CRB, during which time they may enhance recruitment efforts.

**Fraternities & Sororities do not follow this process. To start a new fraternity or sorority on campus, please fill out an Expansion application.**

Application Process

The first step to forming a club is filling out the New Organization Application. Please note, you must be logged into CampusGroups to access the application. At this point you are stating all preliminary info for the organization, such as whether you're applying for Campus Life Recognition, what the name of the organization would be, the mission, as well as meeting, advisor, and e-board information. Please be as detailed as possible.

**Applications for Fall 2020 are now CLOSED. Please check back in January for Spring 2020 Application Dates.**

The Club Review Board meets on Wednesdays at 2:00pm via Zoom and will review applications based on volume received and a first come, first serve basis.

The application to form a new club can be found HERE and will be reviewed on a first come, first serve basis. Due to the shortened nature of the semester and based on the amount of applications received, we cannot guarantee all applications will be reviewed this semester. Application review and presentations will begin the week of September 21st.

Please note, that room reservation spaces are extremely limited this semester so we suggest discussing with potential new members how and what your meetings and events will look like with limited resources. Storage space is also extremely limited and at this time, the Center for Campus Life does not have the ability to grant locker spaces to new clubs and organizations.

If the application is approved, then you will receive an email notification within 24 hours of the Club Review Board meeting with the decision. If  you are approved you will be asked to do a 10-15 minutes presentation to the Club Review Board. The email will outline the next step of your process and what is required. If your application is not approved, then you have the opportunity to appeal. To do so you will reply to the email communication stating the reason for your appeal and outreach will occur from there. If your application is still denied after an appeal review, you’ll need to wait one full academic year before reapplying for club status.

Due to the number of applications that the Review Board receives it could take up to 3-4 weeks after the date of your submission to be reviewed. You can always check on the status of your application by emailing clubs@rit.edu, but applications are reviewed in the order they are received. The Club Review Board meets once weekly for an hour.

Recruiting Members

To start a new club it is required that ten current RIT students are recruited to join your organization. You can do so by holding a general meeting to get students interested and to talk about your group – your group has the ability to reserve a meeting location by contacting clubs@rit.edu. Once you have ten signatures and a full-time advisor (for Campus Life Recognition only), then you’ll proceed to the next step.

Please note for Fall 2020, all interest meetings will need to be held virtually over Zoom. For help with advertising, email clubs@rit.edu with materials.

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Presentation

For this portion you will be asked to come in and present to the board about your group and answer questions they may have. You will be contacted separately by the Club Administration Team to come in and present 5-10 minutes and prepare a presentation in some format addressing questions that will be asked (i.e. name of club, mission, purpose, etc.) At the meeting you will need to announce who the advisor is (if applying for Campus Life Recognition), and you’ll need to bring the list of ten names. If the group is approved you’ll be contacted within 24 hours via email and next steps will be provided to you for how to setup the group.

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Meet with the Clubs & Organizations Staff

If your club is approved, you’ll be required to meet with the Club Administration Team to discuss club policy and procedure before any activity can occur. You’ll also be setup with a club profile, and have access to club privileges. From there your club will learn about how to be a club, what is required, and will be asked to setup a constitution (Samples and information will be made available). If your club is NOT approved there is an appeal process if interested – email clubs@rit.edu about this. Your treasurer will also need to meet with the finance staff as well; all will be discussed in your initial meeting. If approved for Campus Life Recognition, during the initial meeting with a Club Administration Team member. Advisor contact information must be provided so staff can contact advisors regarding their agreement and intent to perform the functions of a club advisor.

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Get Started

Congratulations on becoming a Campus Life Recognized club! After you’ve met all the requirements above, you’ll have the opportunity to learn more about processes and policies by our weekly newsletter, going to All-Clubs meetings, and getting to know all the amenities available as a club!

Requirements

Minimum 10 members

E-Board (Minimum President & Treasurer)

Advisor (current full or part time faculty or staff member at RIT) - except for Campus Life Affiliation applicants

Meeting History and Planned Future Meeting Times

3 Unique (different) Events planned

Completed Organization Constitution

Denials Based Upon:

  • Local, State, Federal Law/RIT Policy conflicts
  • Redundancy with existing organizations (active or inactive)
  • Limiting membership in any discriminatory fashion
  • Lack of information to clearly define purpose
  • Idea is in conflict with the spirit and direction RIT is going
  • Contribution to RIT community
  • No long term sustainability of organization (turnover, events, causes)
  • The ability for idea and mission of prospective organization to function without becoming Campus Life Recognized or Affiliated

Questions to Address:

How will you sustain this club? Do you see a long-term interest with this group?
What do you hope the benefit of being a club will be?
What are you looking to achieve with this club?

Why do you wish to be a club?
Tell us about the purpose of this club?
Describe to us events and ideas you have for this club.