Students feel clubs have become too strict after denials by administration

Following the denial of several potential clubs by administration, students have felt that clubs have been under more scrutiny and are more difficult to start this year.

Hawaiian Shirt Club, founded by senior Will Thomas, was denied official approval last month, followed by the denial of Outdoor Club and Dance Party Club.

Principal Scott Sherman and athletic director Debbie Katzfey are in charge of reviewing club submission forms and signing off on them each year. They believe they are not actively trying to deny clubs, however.

“I firmly believe [everyone] needs to be involved in something in the school,” Sherman said. “I think there’s actually probably a club for everybody. So, there’s opportunities to do it, but we want to make sure that it has kind of a real purpose.”

Senior and would-be co-founder of Dance Party Club Sophie Lawrence argues that clubs should not require a very strong purpose as long as they bring people together and are logistically sound.

“I don’t think a club needs that strong of an importance, I think the highlight of a club is [to] incorporate people,” Lawrence said. “We already confirmed that we could use the dance team room, our sponsors were happy to do it [and] it wasn’t a very high, required club — it was once a month. So, I don’t see why it couldn’t happen.”

Katzfey and Sherman are only aware of one true denial where a club was lacking purpose and not having substance for club meetings — Hawaiian Shirt Club. They do not remember denying Dance Party Club, but do acknowledge that it was denied.

In case of a denial, Katzfey encourages students and sponsors to come in and speak with her and Sherman directly about their club for the highest chance of reapproval.

While  Outdoor Club was initially denied under the impression that it was too similar to the already-established Environmental Club, sponsor Nate Southwick met with Katzfey to explain the difference in clubs and “refocus” their purpose.

“If clubs get denied, the avenue that I would say to take would be to do what Mr. Southwick did — which I commend him on — to come and say, ‘Why?’” Katzefy said.

According to senior and Outdoor Club co-founder Lucy Crum, the club is now reapplying and adding service hour opportunities to be approved, but she feels that they should not have needed to reapply in the first place.

“The more the merrier in my idea,” Crum said. “I feel like we were pretty clear in how we were different from other clubs and our main goal in starting this new one.”

Katzfey believes the main reason for denials are vague explanations for the club’s purpose — probably the reason for Dance Party Club’s denial and the same reason for the initial denial of the Outdoor Club, according to her. The form for filing a new club only has four lines to explain the club’s purpose, so she recommends students also come in to discuss their club with her and Sherman before it is reviewed.

“When [students] submit the forms and that’s all we get, we have to go on what they write,” Katzfey said. “If they don’t really give us  an explanation as to what the point of that is or how it’s going to work… then we need more information. So, come in and share.”

According to Katzfey, the amount of new clubs this year has increased despite the denials. The total number of offered clubs currently stands at about 38, and Katzfey sees this as a reflection of the student body’s desire to “get involved.” Additionally, she stated that there is no cap or limit to the amount of clubs able to be started.

“If there’s a legitimate rationale for why you want to start a new club and it’s not something that could be done within another club or an activity that could be brought into another club to enhance it… you know we’re going to  approve it,” Katzfey said.