This article previously incorrectly reported that Calvin Haney is the director of CSI, not associate director. This article has been updated with the correction.
Six new clubs are coming to campus at the start of the spring 2020 semester, according to the Center for Student Involvement.
Among the clubs approved by CSI are AU Students for Life, the Philippine-American Coalition, Re-Volv Solar Ambassadors, Bethune-Woodsen Society, HOSA – Future Health Professionals and AU Quills and Capes.
All of the clubs are officially recognized as such by the University but are in an “incubation period” until the spring semester. This status limits their access to funding and their ability to book rooms for events in order to give the clubs time to plan and prepare events for the spring.
The Philippine-American Coalition, which currently has about 25 members, is a new group under the Asian-American Student Union. They used to be active on campus, but they have not renewed the club since 2016 due to low membership.
“I was part of AASU but didn’t find a place there because being Filipino is completely different from being Chinese, Korean or Japanese,” said sophomore Sophia Hapin, the treasurer of the Philippine-American Coalition. “Having an organization that it is more specific and distinct in one’s identity can allow for more unity and awareness about different identities within the Asian community.”
AU Students for Life is a pro-life organization “working to save lives threated by induced abortion, euthanasia and the destruction of human embryos for research.” They aim to educate people about the pro-life stance and become a resource for students seeking information on unplanned pregnancies, according to their Engage page. The club has no religious or political affiliation, according to its president, senior Shideya Parrilla.
“Students at AU are mostly used to the ideas of the pro-choice campaign,” Parrilla said. “With all the legislation that’s been happening, there’s been a lot of misinformation about what pro-life supporters care about and who they care about. We want to make the pro-life view more accessible for students and to engage in a conversation that they’re not used to engaging with.”
HOSA – Future Health Professionals (formerly known as Health Occupations Students of America) is the AU chapter of an international organization of pre-med, science and public health students focused on community service, according to their Engage page.
AU Quills and Capes will join AU Players and AU Rude Mechanicals in the spring amongst the growing group of student theater clubs. Unlike similar organizations, Quills and Capes will prioritize producing student-written works.
“Part of Quills and Capes’s main goal is to generate new stories out of our generation and our collective student body mind,” said founder and executive director sophomore Heather Adams.
Despite a lack of access to room booking and funding, Quills and Capes produced their first production this semester, “Superstar” premiered in Mary Graydon Center during early November. Quills and Capes funded the performance by raising money on their GoFundMe page.
Re-Volv Solar Ambassadors will join AU’s multitude of environmentally-focused clubs in the spring. Its mission, according to its Engage page, is to put solar panels on roofs of non-profits through fundraising, while educating the AU community about solar energy. They are hosted one of their first fundraising events, a trivia night, in the Bridge on November 14.
The Bethune-Woodsen Society will aim to “create a space for those students interested in preserving black culture and learning about its history,” according to the group’s Instagram page.
CSI changed the process of starting a club this semester from rolling admissions to a set admissions schedule, which is why the six new clubs were approved en masse at the end of October.
“In a rolling admissions process where we’re taking applications anytime all the time, we were unable to meet the expectation of our students around immediate access to resources,” said CSI Associate Director Calvin Haney.
Because of this change, students who want to start a club now will have to wait until the spring semester to be approved for fall of 2020.
ssolano@theeagleonline.com
