Tangled in red tape

Club start-up process keeps students from getting involved on campus

Students starting a campus club this semester will have to jump through hoops.

Clubs at Santa Ana College take about four weeks to become ratified, while neighboring colleges, like Orange Coast College, take as little as four days.

Irvine Valley College and Santiago Canyon College take two weeks to review applications for approval.

“I often felt left in the dark throughout the whole process. This was my first time putting a club together and I really didn’t have much help,” said Caitlin Garrett, who organized the Choir Club during the spring semester.

Of the 26 clubs this semester, three were not ratified, according to Eddie Lopez, the Inter-club Council president.

“A lot of the time with newer clubs they’re unclear about what the requirements are for starting a new club, making the transition less seamless than it should be,” Lopez said.

If the ratification process has not taken place by the tenth week of the semester, students must wait for the next semester before they can apply for club status.

“If students submit their applications before 2 p.m. on a Thursday, the club will be reviewed for approval by the following Tuesday,” a representative from OCC’s Associated Students office said.

Santiago Canyon College has no deadlines and clubs may take as little as two weeks to be approved.

“ICC regulations are somewhat strict … you can’t even pass out flyers for the club or event unless ICC approves it first,” Tulip Ragien, president of the Communication Studies Club said.

Club events held on campus require request forms to be completed and may take weeks to be processed.

Even if a club is ratified by the tenth week, students are left with less than half of the semester to find members and plan campus events.

With active layoffs over the past four years, departments have been hit hard, said Associate Dean of Student Development Loy Nashua, noting “Things don’t happen overnight.”

Still, the daunting application process leaves some students wary.

“It just takes too much hard work for something that may not even be approved in the end,” said Christian Orozco, whose music appreciation club was not ratified.