On Wednesday, October 24, Clemson students received word about several significant changes being made by the Student Affairs board that would affect the Student Organization Policy. Less than a week later on Tuesday, October 30, a meeting took place in Tillman Auditorium, as Student Affairs received an immense amount of backlash from concerned Clemson students. There was no warning to these changes. Organizations had no idea this was taking place. Thus, the vote to proceed with these policy changes came to a halt and has not been rescheduled.
As Doug Hallenbeck, Senior Associate Vice President of Student Affairs, stood in front of the multitude of students in attendance, he proceeded an attempt to clear any confusion to what the changes mean for student organizations. Hallenbeck stated the specific areas of clubs and organizations that would change, and those that would stay the same. He then opened the floor for any questions. Almost half of the hands in the room shot up immediately.
The first question that was asked can be summed up into this; what is the reasoning in keeping decisions you’re making for students from the students? As students applauded, Hallenbeck answered by saying the process is a long one, and too complicated to be explained in a reasonable time. He said there have been 14 drafts to the policy so far, and it “wasn’t leaked by Student Affairs,” it was leaked by WeRoar. He continued to state that the board didn’t want to leak it because of the possibility of “misinformation”.
This beginning question sparked a lot of emotion in the students representing the different organizations they are a part of, as more and more of them walked to the floor in an attempt to be heard. Some of the questions pertained to the confusion about what funding cuts will look like in the future, the new rules about traveling to competitions and conferences, religious discrimination concerns, the proposed leadership training that each member will have to go through and the tiers that every organization will be placed in signifying their hierarchy. However, a lot of the answers given to students with questions were, “we will look into this”, signifying that more work needs to be done before a final draft is set in place.
Among the student leaders in attendance was President of the Clemson Sailing Club, Cameron Rylance. As Rylance represents over 170 Clemson students, his frustration with the new policy is only heightened by the reality that he may lose members due to the changes that his organization will undergo. He stated that he “feels a little more affirmation knowing that other people are as fired up about this as I am.” Like a lot of other students at the meeting on Tuesday, Rylance agrees that there was a significant lack of transparency in the process of drafting this policy. He said that, “knowing Doug Hallenbeck is responsible for keeping this from student leaders across all boards has brought me a lot of grief.”
As stated, there has been no decision on when a future vote will take place. However, there will be another meeting to discuss the new policy on Thursday, November 1st, taking place at 8:00 p.m. in the Senate Chambers.
The next town hall meeting will be on Thursday, November 1st at 8 pm in the Student Senate Chambers. The Tiger will be reporting on the meeting for those that are unable to attend. A more in depth recap of the specific questions that were asked will be posted later this week.
The presentation and most recent draft of the policy will also be posted on Tiger Quest on Friday, November 2nd according to Hallenbeck.
