It appears that more students are looking to turn their favorite hobby into a Student Government official club on campus, judging by the prevalence of club recognition presentations at the weekly SG meetings. President Willie Eggleston noted that this was a trend this semester.

“I think we’ve had more clubs requested this semester than in the last two years combined,” Eggleston said.

At the Nov. 2 SG meeting, the Society of Women Engineers, Hockey Club, Studio 20 and Long Boarding Club all proposed to become official clubs. However, the decisions for two of these four were tabled because of insufficient club constitutions.

Society of Women Engineers club decision tabled

The proposal to make the Society of Women Engineers an official SG club was tabled because of extensive constitutional changes that needed to be typed into a constitutional document for SG members to approve. Laura Easton presented the proposal and the intent of the club, which is to get women more involved and interested in engineering.

Eggleston explained that the constitutional issues originated from an old constitution which dates back to 1987, when the program was affiliated with a national organization. He said many of the contents did not correspond with modern SG club rules.

“There were a lot of issues where they tried to bring the national organization’s constitution into their constitution,” Eggleston said.

SG verbally went over the changes to the constitution, but decided to wait until next week to provide all SG members with a typed version and make a decision then.

Studio 20 club recognition stalled to next week due to missing constitution article

Production club Studio 20 is another club recognition that was delayed to next week because of missing constitutional elements. The club did not submit an article in their constitution outlining their amendment policy. Eggleston said that even though this article is not a requirement, it is a good policy to clarify on.

“Technically they don’t need the article, but it’s a good article to have,” Eggleston said.

Melanie Thomas, graduate assistant and one of the advisers of Studio 20, said the club offers students the option to develop technical skills in areas of graphic design, website design, digital and print media and video shooting and editing.

“A lot of fun, creative stuff can be accomplished by joining studio 20,” Thomas said. “If you really want to hone in on your artistic abilities and you need a way to express it, you could also learn these valuable tools.”

Thomas also urged that the club attracts a broader membership than just Integrative Media students.

Hockey Club receives official club status despite concerns

SG was approved recognition of the Hockey Club with a pass of 32-2-9. Even though the club was approved, some SG members expressed concern over its sustainability and expense.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea … but I still just question the sustainability of this club,” John Sweeney, president of the junior class, said.

Hayden Lerner, who presented for Hockey Club, said they hoped to join a non-contact, multi-gender league at Coal St. Recreation Center at a cost of about $2000. He presented ideas of covering expenses by selling koozies and t-shirts and holding fundraising events partnered with restaurants.

Stacy Prelewicz, president of the senior class, felt the expenses would not affect the success of the club.

“People that are in the sport, they’re all going to have their own equipment most likely, they’re going to know how expensive it is,” Prelewicz said.  “So I don’t think cost should be the biggest concern.”

Long boarding club aims at becoming official

The long boarding club started their two-week process of requesting to become a club, continuing a movement of athletic activities to club status. Michael Tedeschi, computer information systems junior, presented to SG and emphasized the increasing popularity of long boarding at Wilkes.

“We’ve noticed that there’s a really increasing number of people who long board on campus,” Tedeschi said. “We’ve actually been approached by a bunch of them … we noticed there’s a really big interest in it.”

He said the SG club funds would mostly be used to purchase safety equipment for members. A decision on club status will be made next week.