The Office of Student Life and Engagement and the Student Government Association are implementing changes across all Dallas College Campuses regarding to student clubs. The push for these changes began within student leadership. Student leaders from all campuses worked through the spring and summer to create a new constitutional charter for SGA. Tony Ramirez, student body president at Richland Campus said, “With the school broadening their degrees and becoming a lot bigger and a lot more official, we decided that the student government also has to follow that path as well.”
SGA members met with Frankie Ward, student life director at Dallas College, over several Saturdays to draft the new charter, which is currently under review and pending approval. It was decided SGA would become a bigger presence within student clubs, now known as Registered Student Organizations. This comes in the form of the new student officer RSO position of Senator. RSO senators will sit in on SGA meetings in addition to attending their club meetings. Every RSO is required to appoint a senator. “They’ll have a chance to speak and talk about the initiatives that the clubs are starting,” Ramirez said. “Kind of like a public forum.”
Kelly Sonnanstine, student life coordinator, said, “The student government is governing the clubs overall not to control or to hinder anything, but more to create more collaboration, create more availability for change, create bigger voices.”
In order to be recognized as an official RSO, officers and advisers must meet a list of requirements. All requirements must be met before a club can meet. A club must have one full-time faculty or staff member at Dallas College serving as club adviser. Part-time faculty or staff may serve as co-advisers. In addition to the senator role, RSOs will need to fill three other positions: president, treasurer, and secretary. Six regular members will also be required for official recognition. The adviser and officers must create an RSO constitution, then submit a petition for recognition form to their respective student life coordinator. All club recognition forms are due Sept. 29.
Other forms, such as rosters, membership attendance and fundraising, must also be filled out and presented to coordinators throughout the semester. All RSO forms can be found within Dallas College’s Microsoft Sharepoint site. Forms must be filled out virtually via PDF format, not handwritten. RSOs must attend club expos and other campus events in order to show proof of recruitment efforts.
A virtual RSO orientation meeting was held on Sept. 15 for club advisers and student officers across Dallas College. The meeting was attended by over 170 people. Frankie Ward, student life director for Dallas College, opened the meeting. “We will be introducing new RSO procedures to ensure that our organization operates smoothly and effectively,” Ward said. “By adhering to these procedures, we will create an environment where our organizations can thrive, innovate and make a lasting impact.” Each policy section of the meeting was covered by one of the student life coordinators across Dallas College, all members of the RSO Thrive Committee, a group of student life coordinators who work to modify to RSO policies.
One student hoping to start a new RSO is Shanelle Tennyson, who has been at Dallas College since 2020. Tennyson said she wishes to create a gardening club at Brookhaven. She attended the Club Expo on Sept. 6. “I was surprised to see the garden club didn’t exist because there’s a garden five minutes away from here,” Tennyson said.
Tennyson said she wants to collaborate with the Farmers Branch Community Garden, as well as the food pantry at Brookhaven. Tennyson was previously involved with the garden through the church it is planted next to, Chapel Hill United Methodist. At the club expo, Tennyson said she got immediate interest from students, staff and faculty when she mentioned a potential gardening club. “Every person I’ve mentioned it to, their eyebrows went up and their ears perked up,” Tennyson said.
Tennyson is far from the only student interested in starting an RSO. Over 11 prospective clubs, known as provisionals, are currently seeking official recognition. Chris Schlarb, student life coordinator at Brookhaven Campus, said, “The new Registered Student Organization policies will benefit our student organizations in the long run because it will require students to plan ahead,” Chris Schlarb, student life coordinator at Brookhaven Campus, said, “We’re gonna have more quality programs over perhaps quantity and last-minute programming.”
