Student Organizations 101

1. Browse GetInvolved to ensure that your new organization idea is unique and does not exist already.
2. Gather at least 5 UHCL students interested in joining.
3. Create an organization constitution utilizing the constitution guide (pdf).
4. Elect officers. Organizations should have at least a primary and secondary officer.
5. Designate Faculty or Staff advisor (if applicable). See more information about advisors below.
6. Register a new organization on GetInvolved.
7. Primary and Secondary officers must attend the required registration workshop. 

Once all requirements are complete, you will receive an email indicating your organization is registered for the following year. Registration submissions are reviewed by staff on a first-come, first-served basis as staff capacity allows.

For questions or to set up an advising meeting regarding starting a new org, contact studentorgs@uhcl.edu.

All organizations wishing to remain actively registered at UHCL must complete the registration process annually. These requirements may change annually, so stay in touch with Student Involvement and Leadership to know what is expected this year.

New officers should work together to complete the following steps during this time with support from old officers if necessary:

1. Elect Officers for the following academic year. The new primary and secondary officers should lead the registration process, but the outgoing officers are encouraged to help as needed. Make sure to update your Rosters on GetInvolved and pass along all important documentation to the next group. 
2. Update your org constitution and honor cord point systems (if applicable). Ensure all edits are group decisions and not made by just one or two leaders. Have these documents somewhere you can access them when you get to step 3.
3. Complete the Registration Form on GetInvolved. Once you're done with training, you're ready to officially "Re-Register" for 2023-2024 on GetInvolved! Go to your org home page and click "Register my organization." Only 1 officer should complete this for the group.
4. Complete the Registration Workshop. The 2023-2024 primary and secondary officers should attend a Registration Workshop hosted by the Office of Student Involvement and Leadership Staff. The workshop will take about an hour and you will find valuable information about what it means to be a student organization here at UHCL and how to best utilize the resources that we offer.

5. Await your Confirmation Email. Registration forms will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served capacity. Upon completion of the above steps, we appreciate your patience as we review materials and confirm your registration for 2023-2024.

All organizations wishing to maintain active status on-campus for the following academic year must complete the re-registration process at this time.

Learn more about steps required in the annual Registration Process below.

Officer Transitions 

It is important that outgoing and incoming officers meet during the transition season to pass along pertinent information. Such information can include sharing documents, reviewing previous year's events, sharing campus resources, reflecting on what went well and what went poorly this past year, etc.

Celebrate your Success

In March, student leaders and organizations may apply for leadership awards. Winners are announced and celebrated at the Student Leadership Banquet that takes place in April. The Banquet typically includes a celebratory dinner and awards ceremony, and it is the perfect way to close out the academic year.

Dormant Organizations become Inactive

If your organization fails to complete the re-registration process by the deadline, Student Involvement and Leadership will assume students do not want to continue the organization, and it will be considered "inactive" for the following year. This organization can be re-registered at any time by students formerly a part of the organization, or a brand new group of students.

As new and returning students arrive on-campus at the beginning of each semester, we encourage all student organizations to recruit new members. While more new students typically begin at UHCL in August, many begin in January as well.

Student Involvement Expos

Registered organizations may sign up to participate in the Student Involvement Expos. The Expos are a prime time to recruit new members for your organizations, provide information about upcoming events and meetings, and spread the work about what you all do! Orgs hand out giveaways, engage peers with activities, and chat about why they love their organization.

Student Involvement and Leadership typically provides a free tri-fold poster board to all organizations wishing to decorate one for their table.

Member Interest Meetings

Member Interest Meetings are a recommended next step once your org gets face-to-face time with prospective members. Here, your org can delve deeper into what you do and give peers a taste of what being a member could be like. Engage peers with ice breakers and show off your current members. At this point, prospective members are still deciding whether they want to officially "join" your organization.

New Member Admission

Once members have clearly expressed that they wish to join your organization, ensure you add them to your GetInvolved roster, and they should accept the invitation. Then, you should have a process to acclimate them to your organization. Be intentional about helping new members form relationships and delegating tasks to let them know that you care about their participation in your RSO.

The active season is the core of your organization's activities and events. Below are some recommended tips for leading your organization successfully during this period. Some orgs plan events during the summer, but it is not as common.

Executive Board Meetings

Create a consistent day and time to meet with your officer team to go over large-scale organization business. This could be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly based on what is best for your group. The more often you meet, the more you can likely accomplish together!

General Meetings

To retain members, it is critical to have a consistent meeting time — weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Ensure that members are receiving tasks to work on so they feel that they are actively contributing. General Meetings can be used to build team morale with ice breakers, check-in on tasks from previous meetings, reflect on recent events, or delegate tasks for upcoming events.

• Step-By-Step Guide to Structuring Better Meetings
• How to Run a Club Meeting
• A Modern Guide to Robert's Rules of Order - a traditional guide for meetings

Events

Not all organizations host events, but we are here to help should you want to! Once you have actively engaged members, utilize the energy to plan events on campus and bring your mission into action. Consider what your organization's mission and values are, and then plan events that align with what you care most about. Examples of events include fundraisers, networking events, speaker series, events just for fun, org bonding events, and community service events. The possibilities are endless!

Assessment

To continually improve and grow, we encourage you to assess all programs and processes your organization has. Create surveys in the "Form" function on GetInvolved to ask members how they are enjoying their experience or use the "Evaluation" function for your GetInvolved Events to ask attendees about their experience at your event.

Event Organizer's Guide to Post-Event Evaluation

Your advisor can be any UHCL faculty or staff member that members of your group have made a connection with. This person will ideally feel connected to your organization mission and provide benefit by advising your group.

If your organization is affiliated with a national chapter, you may work closely with a representative of the organization who provides advising-like services. A faculty or staff advisor is still required in this case to provide an on-campus contact.

An advisor can provide many benefits to your organization including:

• Experience in your area of interest
• A network in the field
• A neutral third-party in times of conflict
• A liaison to connect with the larger UHCL community
• A UHCL faculty or staff member in your corner

Your relationship with your advisor may look however you would like! The President or Executive Team may set up weekly or bi-weekly meetings with your advisor to talk through upcoming projects, or your advisor can remain very hands-off and offer advice as you need it.

We encourage student organizations to set expectations of what the advising relationship will look like in action, using the Advisor Expectations Worksheet (Docx). 

Meet with your Advisor and utilize the Advisor Expectations Worksheet (Docx). Upload it along with your annual re-registration application.

You should also add your faculty/staff advisor to your GetInvolved roster and designate them as your advisor. You may do this when you are re-registering your organization each spring, or do it throughout the year as changes occur.

Please email studentorgs@uhcl.edu if you have any updates to who your Advisor is.

An advisor serves a one-year term unless otherwise stated in an organization constitution. You are welcome to change who your advisor is at any time. Please reach out to us at studentorgs@uhcl.edu regarding steps to do so.

No. SB 17 expressly exempts student organizations from its restrictions. Moreover, Section 51.9315 of the Texas Education Code bars universities from denying a student organization any benefit that is generally available to other student organizations, if the denial is based on the organization’s political, philosophical, ideological, or academic viewpoint or content.

No. A university cannot deny a student organization generally available funding, regardless of its source. Section 51.9315 defines "benefit" as including "funding sources made generally available to student organizations at an institution of higher education." If state funds are used in a neutral fashion to support other student 6 organizations, the university cannot deny funding to the student organization because of its DEI work. And of course, SB 17 expressly exempts student organizations from its restrictions.

No. SB 17 expressly exempts student organizations from its restrictions as well as short-term speakers. Moreover, Texas Education Code 51.9315 also defines “benefit” to include the use of facilities for meetings or speaking purposes. It also requires only content and viewpoint neutral criteria for approving speakers.

Yes. Identity-driven organizations must be treated the same as non-identity driven organizations. Neutral funding open to all organizations must be made available, as well as access to facilities. Denying neutral funding would violate state and federal law as content or viewpoint discrimination.

Yes, as long as they do not receive special funding/compensation for providing this service that other advisors would not receive for advising non-identity driven organizations.

Yes, as long as they are not given preferential treatment because of their identity components. For example, an engineering program would be compliant with SB 17 if it listed all student organizations that are relevant to engineering students. To deny this neutrally available “benefit” would be in violation of state law governing expressive activity on campus.

Yes. Student Organizations are exempt from the limitations of SB 17. As such, student organizations may host programs and initiatives supporting the LGBTQ community, including programs discussing sexual orientation or gender identity.