Recently, the Clubs Commissioner and ASB have tightened their enforcement of the clubs policy. This policy ensures that all clubs stay active, adding value to our campus and benefiting all students.

The hope is that clubs with overlapping goals will come together and fewer clubs will be groups of friends merely labeled as a club.  Submitting club minutes after each grading period is now mandatory, and ASB members promise to do random checks to make sure clubs are actually meeting and performing the duties of a club.

Every year, new clubs are added to the already long list.  And every year, each club, old and new, must strive to make its club active by holding meetings, gaining members and advertising their club to others. 

Although most clubs start off lively and busy, over the course of the hectic school year, some gradually fade away until they are nothing but a name. Others simply don’t meet at all, but are still considered clubs.  This is not only unfair to students who are presidents of active clubs, but also to students who want to join clubs in which they later find out rarely meet.

The purpose of clubs is to create a friendly environment where people with the same interests can get together and become friends over similar interests. But if a club is inactive, the purpose of having it is defeated.

Let’s face it: Although many clubs are dedicated to certain passions or beliefs, some clubs are made simply for the benefit of another accomplishment to put on college applications, and meetings are barely ever held.  These types of clubs add no value to our school — students can’t take anything away from clubs that seldom hold meetings.

Here’s where the stricter policy enforcement steps in. The new requirements weed out those who are serious about running a club from those are are just making the motions in order to boost up their leadership points for college resumes. For many people trying to opt for the latter, the frequent check-ins and new prerequisites are a needed check on club activity — or, inactivity. The newly revised policy forces ambitious students to think twice and consider if they can actually make the commitment.

The policy, although stricter, is far more fair; it doesn’t matter what the clubs are about, or what they do.  Clubs that are active are of great worth to our campus, whereas clubs that aren’t can simply be deemed as a waste of space and time.