Creating and Maintaining a Club

Prioritizing academic commitments over extracurricular activities is paramount for student success. While extracurriculars offer valuable experiences and opportunities for personal growth, academic achievement forms the foundation for future endeavors. By prioritizing academics, students lay the groundwork for their long-term goals, whether they aspire to pursue higher education or enter the workforce. Excelling academically opens doors to scholarships, prestigious programs, and career opportunities, ultimately shaping your future trajectory. Moreover, emphasizing a commitment to academics demonstrates responsibility and discipline, qualities highly valued by colleges, employers, and scholarship committees. Academic performance is often a primary factor in admissions decisions and can significantly impact future career prospects. Students who prioritize academics show dedication to their education and the determination to succeed in their chosen field. While involvement in extracurricular activities can enhance a student's skill set and provide enriching experiences, it is essential to strike a balance and prioritize academic responsibilities. 

• Creating a Club

  When starting a student organization or club, your group will be evaluated via the risk matrix by the Office of Student Involvement before moving forward to review by Wesleyan Student Assembly's Community Committee (CoCo).

  For formally recognized groups, student leaders must provide a constitution, a minimum seven group members, and a faculty or staff advisor. Also, a Financial Manager, Event Coordinator, and Primary Contact person must be listed.

  For informal groups, student leaders must provide a roster of a minimum of five group members, and list an Event Coordinator and a Primary Contact.

  For club sports groups, student leaders must provide a constitution, a minimum seven group members, and a faculty or staff advisor. Also, a Financial Manager, Risk Manager, and Primary Contact person must be listed. 

  The following steps to get prepared for the registration period. Here is a Constitution Template to use if you wish to become formally recognized. All student groups will be required to register as either formally recognized or informal. Learn the differences between formally and informally recognized groups and start thinking about how you wish to register your existing group.

  1. Browse WesNest beforehand to make sure that the mission/activities of your group do not overlap with any existing groups. Click on "Register an Organization" and follow the steps on the page.
  2. For formally recognized and club sports, have at least seven committed group members that you can report on your roster, 3 of which are officers (Primary Contact, Financial Manager, and Event Coordinator or Risk Manager). For informal, have at least five committed group members to report on your roster, 2 of which are officers (Primary Contact and Event Coordinator).
  3. Prepare a brief description and mission statement for your group.
  4. Familiarize yourself with campus resources for funding and event organizing, as you will be asked about what you will utilize during registration. CoCo office hours are a good place to do this.
  5. Have all 5 or 7 required members attend a meeting with OSI and CoCo
• Re-Registering a Club

  All active student groups need to re-register their student group every spring semester.. This process allows new student group leaders the opportunity to update the group's officers and other pertinent group information so they are not dealing with antiquated data. All student groups will be required to register as either formal, informal, or as a club sport.

  Utilize the Constitution Template, which must be followed for formally recognized and club sport student group re-registration. If the Constitution Template is not followed, the group is at risk for being denied re-registration as a student group.

  Formally recognized and club sports groups are required to attend annual leadership transition workshops, where information regarding the re-registration process will be outlined. Groups who do not attend the required workshops will not be able to re-register their organization. 

  All student groups will be required to keep their respective WesNest pages updated; this would include updating the Constitution/Bylaws, keeping the roster up-to-date, and uploading historical documents.

• Unfreezing a Club

  Any member of a student group is allowed to re-register a frozen group; it does not need to be the Primary Contact. You do need to be listed on the group roster in order to re-register a frozen group. If you are not currently listed on the group roster for a group you would like to unfreeze, please email involvement@wesleyan.edu to be added to the roster. 

  There are a couple of conditions for frozen groups to become fully active again: 

  1. The re-registration application will ask you for additional information, including:
     1. An action plan for reactivating the group, such as recruitment and retention of members, meeting structures, and potential event ideas
     2. A legacy plan for assuring that the group will remain active and re-register annually
     3. A updated constitution
  2. Meet with OSI Clubs and Organizations Coordinator to discuss restarting a frozen group on campus, further discuss your action and legacy plans.
  3. For Formally Recognized groups only: have atleast one board member attend the WesWell Sexual Violence Prevention Training and Financial Manager Training Q&A 
  4. For Formally Recognized groups only: documentation of meeting with your faculty/staff advisor at least once in the Fall and Spring semester.
• Required Leadership Positions

  Primary Contact: This position is responsible for being the main contact for the organization. They are responsible for WesNest information, re-registering the group, and serving as a communication liaison between their organization and OSI.

  Financial Manager: This position plays a crucial role in ensuring the financial stability of your student organization. They are responsible for keeping clear records of every expenditure, distribution of funds, collecting valid receipts and invoices and need to be knowledgeable about the university and OSI financial policies and procedures and communicating this information clearly to their group members and board.   

  Event Coordinator: This position oversees all logistical aspects of events and meetings that your organization hosts. They are responsible for requesting spaces, coordinating with the Associate Director if needed, and promoting events via WesNest. 

  Risk Manager*: This position is the point of contact for all risk issues in their organization. They are responsible for reporting injuries through the Incident Report on WesNest, completing any required travel documents on WesNest, ensuring all members have completed waivers and waivers are uploaded to WesNest, ensuring any required trainings are completed, and ensuring that referees and athletic trainers are hired for home games.
  *This position is only required for Club Sports.
• Leadership Transition Training

  Student groups should start transitioning leadership by April of each academic year. This will allow for plenty of time for new leaders to shadow and learn from previous leadership. All incoming leadership for formally recognized groups are required to attend Pass the Torch workshops held annually in April. Formally recognized groups that fail to attend will be unable to re-register their student group.

  All student groups should have a transition meeting between incoming and outgoing leadership to ensure a successful transition of leadership. 

  Leadership Transition Tips:

  • Schedule a one-on-one meeting between incoming and outgoing leadership
  • Utilize transition documents to help guide leadership transition meetings
  • Review the following with Outgoing Leadership
    • Update any notes/goals you have for the group 
    • Ensure you have all items needed, such as passwords, contact lists, forms or paperwork needed for the groups success
    • Update important WesNest documents and information including Constitution, roster, budget spreadsheets, and risk documents
  • Have incoming leadership lead at least one meeting while outgoing leadership is still present
• Membership

  All student groups should be open for any member to join. Unless a student is determined through a university process not to be in good status and/or a threat to the community, every student has the right to fully participate in Wesleyan activities. Student leaders do not have the autonomy to revoke one’s membership.

  For example, as reviewed in the Sexual Violence Prevention Training, Clubs and Organization leaders have limited autonomy in handling allegations of sexual assault that University administration does not deem resolved and may not remove members on the basis of sexual misconduct allegations. 

  Attempts to remove someone who has been alleged to have caused harm could lead to allegations of retaliation and/or risk losing recognition as an official group; the prohibition on retaliation is reflected both in federal regulations and Wesleyan’s policies.

• Faculty and Staff Advisors

  All formally recognized and club sports groups require a faculty/staff advisor for their organization. The role of the faculty/staff advisor is to assist students in navigating university processes, managing group dynamics, and assisting in maintaining group history. 

  The Wesleyan University faculty or staff member selected to be your advisor should be aware of the role. Once an advisor is added to your groups WesNest roster they will need to accept the invitation to be your group’s advisor. Any formally recognized or club sports group that does not have an active faculty/staff advisor on their roster is at risk of being frozen. 

  At least once a semester, the student group leadership should meet with their faculty/staff advisor to discuss the needs and expectations of the group. Discussing expectations from both sides will not only set a precedent of clear communication but will also assure the advisor is capable of committing to this role.

  Student group leadership should share the Faculty/Staff Advisor Manual with their advisor. This manual contains important information about being an advisor for a student group at Wesleyan.
• Equipment and Gear

  All student groups are expected to identify a storage location and plans for all equipment/gear their organization uses. The Office of Student Involvement is unable to store any club or organization gear. If purchased equipment and gear for a student group is left in the Office of Student Involvement for more than 5 business days it will be donated. 

  Equipment and gear purchased for your student group using SBC funds should stay with the student group and not be kept by individual members. SBC has the right to deny funding requests for equipment/gear that was purchased in the previous year that were not kept with the student group.

• Risk Management Assessment

  All activities or events, regardless of size, involve levels of risk. As student groups and organizations hosting events, both on and off campus, you need to be aware of potential risks and work to develop strategies to mitigate those risks. While risks vary in type and scope, they need to be accounted for in the planning process of an event.*

  *Adapted from Rhode Island College: Student Organization Risk Management Guide.

  Each year, during re-registration, groups will be required to answer a series of questions so that OSI may perform a risk assessment for their organization. Based on these risk assessments:

  • Groups may not be able to re-register or form,
  • Groups may be required to attend/participate/complete additional training, 
  • Groups may be required to submit additional documentation. 

   

  The categories of analyzing risk will be:

  • Travel
  • Working with minors
  • Handling and serving food
  • Working with external organizations
  • Physical activity
  • Using specialized equipment/requiring specialized training
• Risk Management Matrix

  RISK MANAGEMENT MATRIX
  PROBABILITY	IMPACT
  	Could result in death, disaster, or irreversible damage; Will negatively impact the event or student group.   Catastrophic	Could result in injury or reversible damage; Will negatively impact the event or student group.   Critical	Impacts the event or student group, but not the outcome.     Marginal	Little to no impact on the event or student group.        Negligible
  Such a rare occurrence that it can be assumed it won't happen.   Unlikely	Medium	Medium	Low	Low
  Possible to occur.   Seldom	High	Medium	Low	Low
  Will occur at some point.   Occasional	High	High	Medium	Low
  Occurs several times; Has occurred in the past. Likely	Extremely High	High	Medium	Low
  Will almost certainly occur during the event; Has occurred repeatedly in the past.   Frequent	Extremely High	Extremely High	High	Medium

  Adapted from: Safety Management Services (http://www.smsenergetics.com/risk-management/process-hazards-analysis/risk-assessment-matrix-2); Information Assurance Training Center (https://ia.signal.army.mil/IAF/IASOLesson8.asp); and the University of Connecticut (http://www.studentactivities.uconn.edu/risk_matrix.html)

• WesNest-Forms & Documents

  WesNest is the main platform of information for and about student groups, as well as campus events. All Wesleyan students, faculty and staff have access to WesNest. Student groups will use WesNest to re-register your student group, check your student group’s finances, send out messages to people in your group, request funding from the Student Budget Committee, submit contract requests, request event spaces, and promote your group. Student groups have access to post News Articles, conduct internal elections, create internal forms, and upload pictures. WesNest is also a public-facing page; prospective students are able to see all the involvement opportunities on campus, so it would be beneficial for groups to use WesNest to its fullest capacity to promote their group. 

  If your group is interested in learning more on how to best utilize WesNest, please contact involvement@wesleyan.edu. 

  Forms

  The following forms can be found on WesNest for group purposes:

  • Club Contribution Form - used to contribute funds to departments or groups, or when a campus department is donating funds to a student group
  • Contract Request - used to invite independent contractors to campus
  • Deposit Form - used to place or keep money in a student group income smartkey
  • Financial Request Form (FRF) for Non-Employee and Outside Contractors - used to request reimbursement or payment
  • FRF for Wesleyan Students and Employees - used to request reimbursement or payment
  • OSI Programming Fund
    • created to financially support the programming efforts of student groups by supplementing budgets that might not have been fully provided by the Wesleyan Student Assembly’s Student Budget Committee (SBC), such as food for events and small program enhancements. Groups will be able to request up to $150 in funding per application, and cannot request more than twice in an academic year.
  • Incident Report - to report an injury or incident to OSI

  Documents

  Groups should be saving important historical club information under their documents section. The files can be made private to the organization and certain leadership positions.