For whatever interest an Ohio Wesleyan student might have, it’s likely they can find a club on campus to help them pursue that passion.
Club recruitment was in full swing yesterday at the Hamilton Williams Campus Center at the Student Involvement Fair. A wide variety of clubs and their members were on hand, pitching their organizations and trying to enlist new members.
The 16 clubs represented ranged from academia to greek life to video game enthusiasts. A full list of OWU clubs can be found here.
One organization that will draw attention this semester and which has been an OWU tradition since 1884 is Mock Convention. The clubmeets every four years during the presidential election cycle to teach students more about the electoral process, said Ahmed Hamed, the organization’s president.
The “Mock” represents the party not in control of the White House, with the aim of predicting the party’s nominee for the coming election.
Some clubs are focused on activism. One example is the Citizens Climate Lobby.
“Our focus right now is that civic engagement is important. Helping people realize that their voice matters … and (offering) a bipartisan climate solution,” said Juniper Deitering, the group’s treasurer.
Pride is another activist club.
“The club is an inclusive space for the LGBT community and allies, attempting to connect queer people so they can express themselves, socialize and support queer related activism,” said Ben Acuna, the organization’s vice president. “It’s a casual student space, more so than student counseling or something.”
Fun is another element for many clubs, including the Game Club, which is also designed to promote new friendships.
“It’s a really relaxed club where people who like tabletop games and video games can hang out,” said President Ocheme Connell. “Occasionally, we hold events like the Super Smash Brothers Tournament. It meets Friday from 8 p.m. until we feel like going to bed.”
All clubs have signup sheets which include non-committal email lists.
The African-American community at Ohio Wesleyan has a renewed chance to make its mark on the university.
Black Men of the Future (BMF) has officially been added as a club, and the group has high aspirations as it rejoins the Ohio Wesleyan community. Although BMF has been offered to students in previous years, the club was shut down last April due to lack of participation.
OWU sophomore Adedayo Akinmadeyemi, is responsible for bringing the group back into existence.
“Our main goal right now is to establish a name for ourselves again. I want to be a strong organization on this campus and not just another minority,” Akinmadeyemi said.
Akinmadeyemi also expressed that the club’s biggest goal is to form a brotherhood within the group. “[We want to] truly stick together and have each others backs because it doesn’t seem like the black males on this campus do that,” Akinmadeyemi said.
Treasurer of BMF, Daniel Delatte believes that the group will not only impact OWU, but also the enrollment size of the student body. A successful BMF group could potentially help the university achieve its goal of “2,020 students by 2020.”
“We’re going to leave our mark and do something to make Ohio Wesleyan better, and hopefully bring more black men to the school as well,” Delatte said.
Akinmadeyemi believes that the best way to increase the number of students in the group is simply to start recruiting as soon as possible. 20 African-American men have reportedly joined already.
Akinmadeyemi hopes that by focusing on the incoming freshmen, BMF will have students that are going to grow with the club, and continue the tradition.
“This past year, the upperclassmen and the freshmen had no reason to communicate, BMF will help them through that transition,” Akinmadeyemi said.
BMF will perform multiple service projects around the OWU campus in an effort to give back to the university. The club’s executives have been planning activities to be held next fall.
Administration for this club include President, Adedayo Akinmadeyemi, Vice President, Marvin Sehna, Secretary, Kesh Charles, Treasure, Daniel Delatte. All of the officers live in the House of Black Culture.
The club will meet twice a month in Stuyvesant Hall to build community and connect with one another. Delatte encourages any black male on campus to come to the meetings, which will be held on Thursdays.
“You want to build community with the same type of people as you. Those people that have been through the same struggles as you growing up,” secretary Kesh Charles said.
“This is it! Retirement is coming,” said President Jerry Lherisson, a senior.
The final full senate meeting of the semester for the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) was Dec. 7, and most discussion focused on the requested budget of one club.
Vice President Emma Drongowski, a senior, began by thanking the senators for their hard work this semester, adding that they don’t get paid and often don’t get credit.
“It’s pretty crazy to think about all that we’ve accomplished this year,” said Drongowski.
She asked senators to make a list of what they accomplished this semester and include two tasks they hope to accomplish next semester.
Secretary Lee LeBoeuf, a junior, updated the full senate on the state of composting.
“The reason we stopped composting is because the place in Delaware that took our composting is no longer doing so,” LeBoeuf said.
She added that there is now wireless printing in the Welch and Hayes computer labs.
Kimberlie Goldsberry, Interim Vice President of Student Affairs and WCSA adviser, reported that revisions to OWU’s pet policy are still being considered. Feedback about the policy has been gathered from members of the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and Small Living Unit (SLUs) moderators.
The feedback included a request for the pet policy to remain the same until the end of the semester or the school year.
Goldsberry noted that some change is expected for the spring semester. Changes that could eventually be made are requiring dog owners to cage their dogs whenever the dogs will be home without them and not allowing cats to roam houses when their owners aren’t home.
Goldsberry also reported the news of two babies recently born to faculty and staff members. Dr. Brandt, Associate Professor of Psychology, had a daughter born Dec. 1 and Leslie Melton, Director of Career Services, had her daughter Dec. 4.
Recently, the Administrative Policy Committee (APC) proposed revisions to WCSA’s constitution, and senators voted unanimously at the meeting to accept the revisions.
Conversation shifted to financial matters, and Treasurer Graham Littlehale, a junior, said 53 budgets for next semester have been reviewed.
Campus Programming Board (CPB ) and Faith and Justice Club requested the most money.
Littlehale explained that CPB’s funding request was for the spring’s annual Bishop Bash, which would feature a non-musical performer this year.
“Last year it was really well-attended,” Littlehale said. “A lot of the surrounding community came.”
He said the budget committee knows the performer CPB plans on bringing in and it is someone widely known, but they cannot yet say who the performer is.
Six clubs were not awarded any money they requested, though they can apply for supplemental funding in the spring. Five of the groups did not receive funds because they did not send representatives to mandatory budget training.
The budget committee denied the requested funding for the Pre-Law Club for a different reason.
Sam Schurer, a junior, said there have been issues with the group in the past because they are so closely affiliated with the Pre-Law department. He said the club’s budget was turned down last year and the problem was explained to club members.
“Here we are a year later and nothing has changed,” Schurer said.
He added that this year’s budget request was also a lot of money per student.
Lherisson, a member of Pre-Law Club, made an argument for the group and for the Moot Court trip the budget request was for, stating that some of the close affiliation with the Pre-Law department was due to the group’s adviser and that the Moot Court team performed very well when they competed last year.
A motion passed to separate out the Pre-Law Club’s budget request in order to vote on the other requests. All the other budget requests were approved.
Goldsberry suggested the Pre-Law Club receive written advice and instruction, and she urged the senators “to strike a balance” between supporting the group and its endeavors while also judiciously approving budget requests.
The budget committee will re-convene this week to further discuss the issue, taking into consideration the points made during the meeting.
