A Guide to Creating a New Society
Written by Carolee Avery
Thumbnail and Header Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash
Life is returning to the Saint Mary’s University campus now that university officials are allowing students to attend in-person classes. With the return of campus life comes new opportunities for students, such as involvement with university societies. COVID has kept many returning students away from campus and campus events, and new students haven’t had the chance to explore campus or get involved. Those new to Saint Mary’s University may feel unsure about where to start when it comes to joining or creating societies when the fall semester starts; therefore, this article will provide a jumping-off point for those who are interested!
If you are looking to create a new society at SMU, the first question you may ask yourself is, where do I even start? The answer is quite simple: with an idea. Like any school assignment, you should begin by brainstorming, writing down things like potential names and acronyms, what the purpose of your society will be, where you will hold meetings, and how many times a month you would like to meet.
Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash
From there, you’ll want to write your society's constitution. While this might seem like an intimidating task, SMUSA has taken a lot of the weight off the shoulders of society presidents by offering a template that will guide you in constitution creation. The following is a brief rundown of what should be in a constitution in case it still seems intimidating: the society’s name, the purpose of the society, the structure of the society, the levels of membership and what each level means, a list of executive members and their duties, how meetings will work and who can call a meeting, how the society will choose executives and if elections will be held, how to impeach executive members, an outline for how to make amendments to the constitution, and finally a plan for what should happen to your assets if your society were to dissolve.
The next step is to recruit members for the society’s executive team. A solid executive team should have a minimum of four members, including a president, a vice president, a treasurer, and a secretary. Who fills which role and their respective duties within the society will be decided amongst the four people chosen and should be clearly defined in your constitution.
After the executive team has come together, the next step as a society is to recruit members. The best way to recruit new members is by getting the word about your society out there! To do this, you can create social media accounts for the society and interact with SMU students, attend events, and even ratify your society with SMUSA so that you can be listed on their website as an active society.
Another great way to recruit new members is by participating in the Societies Fair that takes place at the beginning of the Fall and Winter semesters. At the Societies Fair, you should aim to have all four executives at your booth so that new members can get to know the executive team and are able to ask questions before they decide to join the society. You should also have copies of the constitution and the society’s purpose/mission statement so that new members can understand what they are signing up for. If you're already an established society that is looking to recruit new members, it helps to have past or current members stop by the booth throughout the event so that potential members can ask questions and learn about past experiences within the society.
If you plan to ratify your society with SMUSA, which is recommended as they offer guidance and funding to ratified societies, they ask that you have a list of 20 potential members, that you have a completed constitution, and that you fill out their ratification form.
After ratifying your society and gathering interest, the final step is to hold a meeting. As previously mentioned, you should already have a place in mind where you would like to hold meetings. However, if you’re struggling to think of places, on-campus buildings like the Burke building or the Loyola academic building are easily accessible to most SMU students and make great meeting places because they contain classrooms. After deciding on a place for your society to meet, make sure you get the permission of the building owner to hold meetings. For places on campus, SMUSA’s Vice President Student Affairs Isobel Tyler will help you make arrangements. If you’re planning to hold meetings at an off-campus venue, make sure that all communication between you and the venue owner is in writing, just in case something was to happen and you needed to refer back to previous messages.
Your first meeting as a new society should be a general meeting where new members, including the executive team, can meet and introduce themselves. The meeting should be relatively short, only around 30 or 40 minutes, and should start by having the executive team introduce themselves and the society. The executive team should then field any questions members might have and can bring the formal part of the meeting to a close. If any time remains in the meeting, the executive team should mingle around with members and engage them in conversations. That way, they can gather any feedback or answer more questions anyone has.
At the first general meeting, it is a good idea to hand out cards or sheets of paper with information about the society on it that includes all social media handles, the names and positions of each executive member, and contact information. It may also be helpful to ask members what kind of events they would like to see in the future, so when the executive team begins to plan events, they have ideas to go off of.
If you still have questions about creating a new society at SMU, check out SMUSA’s Student Societies webpage, or contact Isobel Tyler, SMUSA’s current VP Student Affairs, via email at vpstudentaffairs.smusa@smu.ca.