ASB cuts 30 clubs on campus; most were already ‘dead’

It had been threatened many times before, and now it has happened.

The ASB has narrowed down the number of clubs on campus to 45, a drastically low number compared to the over 70 clubs the school had before.

The majority of the cutting, which the ASB had wanted to do for some time, took a couple of weeks and was done to get rid of inactive clubs on campus. The ASB also looked to get rid of or consolidate some clubs that did similar things.

“We felt that some of the clubs on campus had similar aims, so we tried to bring them together,” said ASB president senior Ketaki Shriram.

ASB secretary Cindy Chang and assistant principal Karen Hyde worked to send out e-mails to all the club leaders informing them that they would be cutting clubs and asked them to reply back with basic information regarding the club meeting dates, advisor and the purpose of the club.

“Most of the clubs that sent us back an e-mail were the ones who really cared, so we pretty much approved all of them,” said Chang. “I don’t think we really had to sit down and actually talk to the 30 clubs that were cut because they didn’t reply back, so they didn’t initiate their wanting of the club themselves. It was more like a sifting process.”

Clubs next year may also stand the chance of being cut and will be harder to create. The ASB will also be keeping tabs on the clubs and making sure they are active throughout the year.

“We’ll probably maintain the idea of cutting clubs to keep the number of clubs close to what we have now,” said Chang.

The ASB is a lot more careful about letting people start clubs now, mostly because a growing percentage of students have been using the fact that they have started and are part of many different clubs as a way to “pad” their college applications, even though those clubs are unproductive or the students are not fully committed to them.

“The colleges don’t look favorably on having a lot of clubs because they know there’s no way you could really be devoted to so many,” said Chang.

If a student wants to start a club, the ASB is open to new ideas; however, they are hesitant about having similar clubs on campus, or clubs with an insufficient purpose.

“Come talk to us and show us your proposal because we’re always open to ideas,” said Shriram. “We’re happy to listen to anyone who has them.”