How come I don’t have any idea what’s going on this week?
I mean, I know what’s up with the clubs I’m in. Swing Society’s going to have a Masquerade on Saturday at 9pm in the Great Hall, cough cough, shameless plug, for example. I’m pretty pumped about that. And I knew about Talent Show Try-outs. But what else?
Where would I even go to find this? I suppose I could start with the Here & Now, but they’re hardly comprehensive. Their calendar is more of a list than anything. It’s not a very user-friendly layout, and I try to read it, but I don’t always, I’m afraid.
Next I suppose I could go to a bulletin board. But which one? The one by the mail room gets most of the announcements, but you have to dig. And even then, am I getting the whole picture? What about the Nature Society, which is such a green club that they don’t put up posters? What about the Dead Poets Society or the Philosophy Club or countless CAUSE ministries? They can’t put up a poster every week.
What if I find some extra time in my schedule mid-semester, or I want to prioritize things I actually care about, like serving in the community? It’s too late to go to one of the club fairs or the CAUSE fair. Maybe I even put my name down for one of those earlier in the semester, but I never heard back.
The worst offender in this matter is Growth Groups. Formerly known as Passion Groups, they were apparently supposed to take a more organic approach this year. Rather than throwing a kick-off party and assigning people to groups, they had leaders ask people they knew to join.
Okay, I like this idea in theory, but in practice, it ended up awfully. What about freshman and transfers, who don’t know anyone here yet? What about people who weren’t in a Passion Group last year? What about people whose leaders graduated? What about people who, for whatever reason, just don’t have that many friends?
This brings me to my point. I can name six freshmen who put their names down for a Growth Group and never heard back. I know of a frustrated former member of the SAC who couldn’t believe how slowly they got any event news out there. And as the president of the only dancing club on campus, I know how tough it is to get a dancing event through SGA.
These are issues of communication.
Communication, guys! This shouldn’t be that hard.
I’m guilty of this as much as anyone. I mean, a lot of people still don’t know that there’s a Masquerade this Saturday at 9pm in the Great Hall, cough cough. But if it’s a problem with everyone, then something’s got to change.
What about—and this is crazy, I know—a universal calendar?
I don’t know precisely what this would look like, of course. It’s probably impractical to have a giant physical calendar, so it’d have to be digital. And clubs would have to send in their schedules, which is more burden of communication on them—
But for more members, wouldn’t it be worth it?
Mark my words, I am going to talk to SGA about this idea right after I’m done with the Masquerade on Saturday at 9pm in the Great Hall. Until then, I could use your support. Do you guys think this is a good idea?