Emporia State Associated Student Government will now require those seeking to become Recognized Student Organizations to fulfill new requirements before being officially recognized and eligible to receive funds.

The changes are an effort to clarify the RSO process for students as well as make sure that new RSOs do not pop up for a semester, receive allocations money, then disappear.

 “We want to make sure that we’re actually approving clubs who deserve to use student fees, and help them through the process,” said Senate Operations Chair Kesiena Lesso.

Before PSOs can be recognized as an RSO, they must gather signatures from students who are interested in the organization, draft a sample constitution, and hold a meeting with the Senate Operations Committee to make sure that the organization is not too similar to an existing one. 

“We’ve seen a trend of people wanting to create clubs that are very similar to ones we already have on campus,” said Lesso. 

If the previous requirements are sufficiently met, the PSO moves onto the next step of the process, which can take up to a semester to complete. 

A PSO must hold at least general body meetings, which cannot all be held in the same week. Instead, they must be spread out with at least a week in between meetings to show that there is continued interest from students. The meetings must have at least half of all club members present and meeting notes must be provided to the chair of Senate Operations.

During the probationary period, a PSO also needs to hold a public, on-campus event. This can be something as simple as tabling in the union, or it could be something more complex. The final step is completing service hours as a club.

Once all requirements have been completed, PSOs will meet with the Senate Operations Committee for a final check. If requirements have been sufficiently met, the organization will be confirmed as an RSO.

 “The new process is a way of making sure PSOs are ready to actually be RSOs,” Lesso said.