In the six years that I have spent at the Illinois Institute of Technology, I have noticed an overall drop in student participation in student organizations. At least five or six organizations that I had some connection with either crumbled to nothing or lost significant amounts of student engagement. Here are some of the different types of issues that I have noticed recently:
- Students don’t have free time anymore.
- While I’m not fully convinced that every student is completely lacking free time due to classes, I have noticed that people’s time management has severely worsened. Many students I have spoken with either get easily distracted by social media or just overall lack the motivation to do their schoolwork, subsequently leading to students needing to do homework last-minute, which cuts into student organization meetings.
- What I’ve personally noticed with myself is that, when I do have free time, I don’t want to spend it on campus. I currently have only three days of classes every week, and there’s little reason for me to want to go to campus (as a commuter) for any extracurricular activities outside of the time that I usually would be there. There are plenty of commuters that will come up with any way to stay home, school just isn’t a happy place for many people. The cold weather we deal with during the school year definitely doesn’t make it any easier.
- A lot of student organizations have an issue with cliques and gatekeeping.
- As an organization leader for a very small club, I have noticed that the larger organizations that I have participated in throughout my college career have very clique-y behavior. It’s of course normal to have friend groups based on shared interests and hanging out outside of extracurricular activities, but I found myself dreading going to meetings due to the otherness I felt in those spaces. Even when I became an executive member in this club, I was still excluded from activities that all the other executive members were invited to. Again, there’s no problem with having friends and friend groups within an organization, but one should be more inclusive within the organization to other members.
- Gatekeeping is also a humongous issue I’ve seen in larger organizations. When I was treasurer for a specific organization on campus, I was told by one of the other executive members that I was a bad treasurer. Mind you, I was already treasurer for another organization on campus and had plenty of experience with this type of position, whereas this person struggled to make purchases on time and purchased items that weren’t listed on the budget without consulting any of the other executive members prior to doing so. Being told that you’re bad at something that you’re doing on a volunteer basis (i.e., I was asked to participate in this organization to revive it) doesn’t make you want to come back. It sure as heck gave me a bad taste in my mouth.
- There was an incident in the past few years (I don’t exactly recall when, but I don’t want to guess or draw too much negative attention to the organization) where a student spoke out about the exclusiveness of the club to members who were of a specific identity. This was an organization that was meant to bring students of a shared identity together, but they were still othering students because of a differing identity. This isn’t the first time I’d heard about something like this happening at this school, but I was still baffled by the response that the organization made that supported this student’s claim.
- Students don’t want to take on more responsibility.
- Overall, the willingness to participate dwindles down the more responsibility you push on someone. While I personally enjoy responsibility and structure, those who already struggle to keep themselves accountable for homework and feeding themselves are unlikely to want more things on their plate.
- Sometimes, those who do pick up the mantle simply can’t handle it. If someone has never felt the brunt of responsibility before, they wouldn’t know what it means to manage an organization. At times, that person drops the ball, completely unprepared to keep the organization afloat. This means that, as previous organization leaders graduate, nobody is there to take their place, which is how the majority of the organizations that I know fail.
- Student organizations are failing to engage with students.
- Social media, my worst enemy. And it seems like this school’s enemy, too. It seems that none of us really understand how to engage with people on social media. If we do, many of us are unwilling to put in the work that it takes to do so. It takes so much time to prepare and post online to draw the attention of students who likely already don’t follow school accounts and won’t see it anyway. Even when there’s a designated social media person on the organization executive board, it’s still hard to stay on top of trends while still communicating information. It’s still the organization’s responsibility to, at the very least, communicate their meeting times and locations (looking at you, 2024-25 Student Government Association).
- Of course, it’s not all the fault of the organizations. Students also have not been reading their emails, many of which highlight the various events going on around campus (let alone the emails from professors regarding class information). It can’t be emphasized enough that students just don’t get the information because they don’t seek it out. Read your emails!!!!!!
- School-wide events have dwindled so much in the time that I have been at Illinois Tech that it’s hard to understand if it’s due to lack of engagement or lack of funding. If you’re only hosting events that are targeted to students who are part of your club in some way, it’s hard to draw in new members. Even then, these school-wide events may not fully advertise their organization, which consequently also doesn’t draw people to the club.
- Collaboration between organizations has also been failing. When organizations ask to collaborate on an event or project, many representatives fail to communicate any information regarding what the other organizations need to contribute. On multiple occasions, I found my organizations being used just for the name or free labor without being communicated with (sometimes credit is omitted as well). These types of communication issues lead to ties between organizations being stressed or severed.
For some of these issues, there are actions that can be taken to resolve them. Firstly, the bare minimum that you need to do is advertise your organization’s existence. That means having a social media presence, usually on Instagram and Discord. Post your meeting times and locations at the very least. Next is you really need to host activities that are for a wider audience. Hosting activities that are loosely related to what your organization does on a daily basis is the best way to grab the attention of more people. Collaborating with other organizations is also mutually beneficial, as your organizations can bring students to each other’s events. Of course, make sure to properly communicate with each other. Lastly, of course, stay active. Meet weekly, brainstorm with your executive board, and also talk to your student body. Being in charge of a club that doesn’t even show up to its own meetings is probably the worst thing you can do. If you can’t commit to showing up for your club, consider handing the responsibility over to someone who can.
Not every organization falls under one of the issues listed above, but keep in mind that ANY organization can crumble. Do your best to stay vigilant.