About a dozen new clubs are expected to join the 286 current clubs on campus after ASI works to streamline the chartering process.
The yearly increase of campus clubs is attributed to both increased student interest in clubs and the enhanced application process, said Michelle Broom, the public relations coordinator for ASI.
“We are seeing a trend of students becoming more involved in campus clubs and we are seeing larger campus support each year,” Broom said.
Jessica Twaddle, the club services assistant for ASI, attributes the trend towards larger student recognition of clubs on campus and students wanting to feel like they are a part of something.
“I think that students might be searching for others who have similar hobbies as them and being part of a club provides an outlet for those interests,” Twaddle said.
With the list of Cal Poly clubs expanding each year, an outlet for an increasingly wide range of different hobbies are available to students.
Clubs featuring sports or greek associations such as the Cal Poly Men’s Soccer Club and the Sigma Kappa club, respectively, offer students an outlet for more traditional hobbies. Other clubs, however, focus on more obscure hobbies such as the Scuba Club, the Salsa Club and the White Hat Club.
Dominic Camargo, a computer science senior, decided he wanted to start the White Hat Club last fall.
White hat is a reference to computer hackers that look for security faults in order to fix them.
“I noticed there were only like three classes, only one that is an (undergraduate) class, I think, offered at Cal Poly about computer security,” Camargo said. “I started it because I wanted to provide a place where we could learn more and spread what we know about computer security.”
Computer network security includes measures taken to protect computer networks and files from viruses, hackers and system failures, Camargo said.
Camargo and three friends became involved in the club application process as first-time club officers and were happy to find that the process was generally straightforward.
“You don’t know what to expect going in, but I found the process surprisingly easy,” Camargo said.
Making it possible to be completed online and offering various options for guidance through the process both contributed to the newfound simplicity of applying and chartering a club, Broom said.
Three years ago, ASI conducted a series of surveys in which students were asked how ASI could ease the process of starting a club.
In response to student requests, all of the forms needed to apply for a club are now available online. In previous years, students had to fill out forms by hand and physically bring them into the Epicenter, making various trips back and forth to obtain signatures and Epicenter approval, Broom said.
In addition to the process becoming less laborious, ASI has enhanced their services within the past year to best help students through the application process.
“Years and years ago, students would come up to the desk and ask how to start a club and the employee wouldn’t know the answer. They’d have to say, ‘Let me go ask,’ and that isn’t very reassuring,” Broom said.
Camargo found that ASI services were a good resource in the club chartering process.
“Starting out as a new club, you don’t know what your club should be like or what it could become so it’s hard to write out all those details. All the official administrative business was the most difficult part,” Camargo said.
All new club charter must be submitted to the Epicenterr in the University Union by Oct. 23.