Starting a New Organization
STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
1. Criteria for RegistrationStudents are free to belong to and form any organizations to promote and develop their interests consistent with the following criteria:
a. The organization's adopted aims or actions must not violate Kenyon regulations or the civil rights of members of the College.
b. The organization must fill a need for students that is not currently being met by an existing organization on campus.
c. The organization must have a College advisor who is a member of the Kenyon administration, faculty, or staff.
d. All members of the organization must be Kenyon students. The organization of a social fraternity or sorority requires special procedures.
2. Registration
In order to benefit from the privileges granted to registered organizations, as enumerated in the student organization policies, a group or association composed of students is required to register as a student organization with the Director of Student Activities and the Committee on Student Life of Student Council. Registration does not commit the College to the proposed programs or views of any organization.
3. Requirements for Registration for New Organizations
a. Meet with a staff member or student intern in the Student Activities Office to review the procedures for a new student organization.
b. Select an advisor.
c. Write a 2 to 3 sentence mission statement for your organization (mission statement should articulate how the group will uniquely meet student needs).
d. Write a constitution that outlines the organization's means of operation: i.e., how new members join, how meetings are run, how officers are selected and how decisions are made (sample constitution is available to help your organization develop its constitution).
e. Complete a registration application on OrgSync that includes an addendum about the organization's goals and plans for the semester.
f. Organizations that do not submit all of the above items will not be considered for approval.
4. Approval Process
a. The registration application will be reviewed and evaluated by the Director of Student Activities and the Committee on Student Life to determine whether the organization meets the criteria for registration listed above. All new organizations will be required to send a representative to the Student Life Committee meeting to present their organization. The Student Life Committee will vote either to approve or deny the organization.
b. Once the Student Life Committee votes on approval or denial the Chair of the Student Life Committee will then introduce the approvals or denials of the organizations to the full student council at the next meeting. The full council will vote to approve or deny the decisions of the Student Life Committee.
c. Organizations will be notified on OrgSync by the Vice President of Student Life of the approval or denial of registration.
d. Applications for new organizations will only be reviewed:
- Fall semester: until the last week of October
- Spring Semester: until the last week of February
5. Appeals process
a. If an organization officer wishes to appeal the registration decision of Student Council they may write a one-page statement of appeal and submit this letter to the Vice President of Student Life at stulife@kenyon.edu.
b. The Vice-President of Student Life will introduce the appeal to Student Council at the next meeting and the full Council will vote whether they wish to discuss the appeal. If the Council decides to hear the appeal the discussion of the organization and the full Council will vote to maintain or overturn the previous vote for approval or denial of the organization.
c. If Student Council votes not to discuss the appeal then the prior decision of the Council stands.
d. The decision of the full Council is final.
6. Re-registering an Existing Student Organization
a. All existing student organizations must submit an annual re-registration application on OrgSync in the late spring semester (specific deadlines will be announce on OrgSync by spring break).
b. Organizations that fail to submit the re-registration application by the spring deadline will not be able to request funding for the fall semester from the BFC and will lose all registered organization privileges for the fall. (Organizations will have a chance to go through the approval process in the fall semester)
c. All organizations must submit a new constitution during re-registration.
d. The application will be reviewed and evaluated by the Director of Student Activities and the Committee on Student Life.
7. Re-Registration Approval Process, Probationary Status & Fiscal-Probationary Status
a. The Director of Student Activities and the Student Life Committee will review each application for re-registration.
b. The committee will either vote to re-approve the organization or recommend it for probationary status (reasons an organization may go on probationary status: inactivity, failure to complete goals, no concrete goals for the semester).
c. Probationary status means that the organization may only use their allocated funding with approval from the Director of Student Activities or request funding through supplemental budgets.
d. At the end of the fall semester, the Student Life Committee will decide if organizations that were placed on probationary status revert back to registered status or go on fiscal probationary status for the upcoming semester.
e. Fiscal-probationary status means that all the restrictions of probationary status apply and that an organization will not be able to request funds for the upcoming semester.
f. To get off of probationary status and to avoid fiscal-probationary status group leaders shall meet with the Vice President of Student Life, Student Activities interns, or the Director of Student Activities to discuss their programming, fiscal management and group leadership.