The Syracuse University Student Association is planning to coordinate student organization leadership meetings and a student organization census to help recognized and unregistered student organizations collaborate and fill student needs on campus.

Malcolm-Ali Davis, SA’s co-chair of community engagement, said he hopes to host meetings where leaders of RSOs can meet and give updates on what their organizations are doing.

While plans for the meetings have not been finalized and are simply in a conceptual stage, Davis said the idea behind these meetings would be to help RSOs collaborate on similar events and initiatives. With over 280 RSOs on campus, Davis said organizations sometimes plan on overlapping events because they don’t know what other organizations are working on.

“That’s been an issue a few times over the past semester or two,” Davis said. He added that he’s hoping to host a meeting of RSO leaders at least once a semester.

Davis said he’s also thinking of coordinating a listserv of RSO presidents that would be used to keep leaders informed of other organization’s events. RSOs would also use the listserv to reach out for support from other organizations if they need it, he said.

Currently, communication between RSOs must be organized independently, Davis said. RSO meetings and a listserv will help streamline communication between RSO leaders, he added.

Davis said he is also working to organize a “census” of student organizations that aren’t recognized as RSOs. A census of SU student organizations will help SA understand which needs are being met by student groups on campus, he added.

Some student organizations choose not to apply for RSO status because they don’t need the funding or resources offered by SA and the Office of Student Activities, Davis said. Others are not approved by the RSO Review Board because their goals are too similar to existing campus organizations.

Davis said unregistered student organizations will not have to apply for RSO status. The hope is to grant unregistered student organizations a different status under which they are acknowledged by the university and listed on the OSA website, he said.

“Even if some student organizations won’t be applying for funding or other resources, it would still be beneficial to give them some kind of recognition because they are a part of the community,” Davis said.

The RSO Review Board recently approved 13 new student organizations, Davis said. Once they complete the registration process, they will become active RSOs in the fall 2017 semester.

Published on March 20, 2017 at 9:50 pm

Contact Jordan: jmulle01@syr.edu | @jordanmuller18