Start a Student Organization
A student organization is an association of students created for any educational purpose that supports the vision and goals of the university.
To create a new student organization, you must meet the following requirements:
1. Students
The group must have at least five students willing to commit time and effort to the formation and maintenance of the group. These five students provide the basic structure of the organization. One of the five students must be willing to serve as the primary contact person.
2. Advisor
The group must contact a faculty or staff member of Central Ohio Technical College or The Ohio State University at Newark and ask them to serve as a faculty/staff advisor to the organization. A faculty/staff advisor is needed before a student organization will be formally recognized by the Office of Student Life.
Qualification criteria: Advisors of student organizations must be full-time members of the Newark campus faculty or full-time salaried staff. If a person serving as an advisor is not a member of one of the above classifications, a qualified member of the campus staff must be chosen as a co-advisor.
3. Registration
One of the five students will register a new student organization using the online registration form.
4. Constitution
The organization will need to write a constitution, which serves as an outline of goals and purposes for the organization. The constitution template is available to aid in the process of creating a constitution. Once a constitution is written, it should be sent electronically, in Word document format, to Holly Mason for review.
Writing a Constitution
The constitution guides an organization in its operations and activities and, accordingly, is intended primarily for the organization’s benefit and use. The constitution contains the fundamental principles and structure of the organization and outlines the basic rules of procedure by which a group’s leadership govern their organization.
In essence the constitution is an outline of the goals and the purpose of the organization, as well as the rules of the organization.
The constitution should be carefully formulated, clearly worded, and kept up-to-date so that the needs of the organization can be met. Furthermore, our office recommends that each member of an organization have a copy of the constitution. All members of the organization should know the purpose and goals of the organization as well as abide by its rules.
The following outline is provided to assist in the preparation of your organization’s constitution. Use this guide to prepare the constitution for your new student organization. An up-to-date copy of the constitution is required to be submitted in electronic form to the Office of Student Life.
The outline provided is not the only way to define an organization. If you would like to explore additional options, please contact the Office of Student Life and someone will work with your group to compose a new set of guidelines.
The constitution should include specific procedural rules. When amending the constitution, notification of proposed changes must be provided to the membership. The constitution should not be altered in the same meeting in which the changes are proposed.
5. Approval
The constitution and registration form will be reviewed by the coordinator for student involvement. Approval confirmation will be sent by email to the student who initiated the registration.