By Emily Ferro –
Salve Regina is often considered a small school, beautiful and a community of its own on the Cliffwalk. While Salve is indeed a smaller school than many colleges, it is actually not that small. With about 2,000 undergraduate students (collegeboard.com), Salve has a wide variety of students, with a wide variety of interests. In order to support its students, Salve has nearly 50 student-run and organized clubs to suit almost any interest.
These clubs range from activities like writing for the Mosaic newspaper to playing in the band, dancing with the dance club, or discussing philosophy with the philosophy club. Even if there is not a club to suit a person’s interest, Salve is open to forming a new club if it is what the students are asking for.
With all of these clubs available to students with many different interests, why is club activity struggling on Salve campus? In a survey taken by 73 Salve Regina students, 22 percent of them did consider themselves a member of a club, be it sporting, common interest, or promoting awareness of an issue. At 39 percent, most of the students interviewed were a part of a single club, and the most common type of club was common interest.
Despite what the name suggests, many club participants are not as interested as clubs would hope. A whopping 42 percent of the students who participate in one or more club responded that they attended less than half of the meetings their clubs held, and 9 percent said they never went at all, despite considering themselves a club member.
So why are students missing meetings? There were a few answers, conflicts being the most prominent, followed by other plans with friends, but the fact that 21 percent of students responded that they miss meetings out of sheer disinterest is very disheartening for the executive boards of the campus clubs and the members who do attend regular meetings.
Running a club can be challenging, and when members lose interest, morale can take a hit. Erica Sjogren, member of the Philosophy club, has seen the number of atendees wane over the past year of being a part of the club.
“Last semester there were a good 8 people that showed up each meeting,” she said, “and 4 or 5 others that came occasionally, but when we had to change the time this semester that reduced to like 4.” Sjogren does not simply blame the new meeting time, though, stating, “I think the combination of [the new time] and people just not caring incredibly much just kind of killed it.”
The philosophy club is not the only club with attendance issues. The English Guild has also seen diminishing attendees. “Every meeting was met with the attendance of avid Literature lovers, from a variety of majors here at Salve,” said Amanda Iacampo, the Vice President of the English Guild. “However, this usually only amounted to around five or six students; and the occasional passersby exploring the university’s different clubs.”
Whether the reason for missing club meetings is due to a conflict with homework, other plans with friends, or disinterest, the more students who miss out on meetings, the lower the morale of the regular attenders, and a further decline of attendance seems to be imminent. Lower attendence breeds even lower attendance later on.
One club is threatened with termination because of a lack of members. Love 146, started two years ago by Marie Foti, has suffered a blow to club attendence and because of a disconnect between interest and participation, there was an unwillingness to run for e-board. Mia Lupo, club president, is upset with the outcome. “I may be forced to terminate the club,” she said.
In the same survey about club participation, there were questions regarding social media and how regularly it is used by students. Over 91 percent of students surveyed claimed to check social media sites daily, the most regular being Facebook, which is no surprise. What might come as a shock is that of those interviewed, 57 percent responded that they spent between two and four hours every day on the internet, presumably browsing these social media sites.
Slowly but surely social media is beginning to replace socialization, and this trend is beginning to sweep across campus, posing challenges to campus clubs. To club presidents, members, and students attending Salve next year, take this as a challenge. Don’t let social media replace actual social situations.
Clubs are the heart of any college campus. Students attend to make friends, host fund raisers, hold events for other students, and even plan field trips to exciting places. With so many clubs to join, make it a point to sacrifice one half hour on the internet and participate in a club on campus for your own benefit and for the benefit of the whole Salve community.
If there is no club that immediately interests you, then be ambitious and propose one that does. Joining a club is a great way to make friends, build a resume, and unwind from stressful classes and never-ending drama on Facebook. Find what interests you and run with it. College will be over before you know it, so don’t miss out on the opportunity of feeling the community of a club.
