USC’s new open membership policy for RSOs met with mixed reactions

With recent changes to the Recognized Student Organization (RSO) application requirements, organizations new and established face difficulty reapplying for recognition from USC. Specifically, for clubs associated with the Marshall School of Business, these changes have had a large-scale effect on the “exclusivity” aspect of the approximately 40 RSOs housed by the school.

The changes made to the process include an open membership requirement. Clubs must allow all students, staff, faculty and alumni who are eligible to be non-voting members. The change is meant to promote the university’s unity and fight against discrimination based on social standing and other factors, according to USC Campus Activities.

“As part of the application process, all officers and advisors must complete the required training and documents. This year the trainings are focused on the Student Commitment and the Unifying Values, as well as accessibility, leadership responsibilities, hazing prevention and anti-discrimination,” USC Campus Activities said in a statement to Annenberg Media.

The policy affects clubs and organizations on campus differently; some have reconstructed new student outreach while others have more or less maintained their usual process. Clubs under Marshall have some of the most rigorous recruitment processes. They now have to adjust their intensive interview processes and are now required to allow more people into their clubs.

Julia Mendez, a junior business administration major, said Marshall’s Women’s Leadership Board has been affected by this new policy.

Mendez said that many students who are able to get into these clubs don’t participate, “and there’s people who can’t get into clubs and they would go to stuff if they had the opportunity.”

The 40 Marshall RSOs range from associations designated for students of a particular race or ethnicity to societies based around consulting and accounting. For several consulting clubs under Marshall, the thorough application process aims to be selective.

Daniel Kong, vice president of projects at RISE, a campus organization specializing in startup consulting, said he believes the rigorous application process is to better serve clubs and students.

“It’s not because we want to take away the consulting experience from people…even those that want to join it,” Kong said. “It’s more of the fact that the work that we want to give to the business analysts and the new people that are coming for these consulting experiences is valuable enough to the point where we’re giving them enough work and experience where they feel like, ‘Oh, we got enough in return for being part of such a rigorous application process.’”

In addition to consulting clubs under Marshall, other organizations around campus are also feeling the effects of the policy change. For those with less intensive application processes, the time it takes to be officially recognized by Campus Activities has caused delays in recruitment, mounting up obstacles in a hectic first few weeks of the semester, according to Annenberg Media.

As the Vice President of Delta Phi Epsilon, an international and professional co-ed sorority, Orion Dennin has mixed feelings about the changes made.

“I think that these clubs, in a sort of way, are a mirror of how the real world works, or at least how the employment process works,” Dennin said. “It’s about networking and your skills, and the effort that you put into it. It doesn’t have to be shady and unethical.”

But some students said they feel differently about this new process, believing that excluding people from these clubs does not make the club any better, and that this new policy is essential for groups to include the people who will be passionate and interested in the ongoing events.

Ava Satterfield, a sophomore business administration major, said the process has been “difficult.”

“Especially if you don’t know older people in those clubs, to get into them,” Satterfield said. “A lot of the application process has to do with who you know more than your experience.”

Satterfield, like many students, has conflicting feelings but hopes to see a beneficial outcome from these changes.

“But then also, I think by excluding people, you’re missing a lot of other perspectives that could have been shared,” she said.