Q: How many clubs and organizations are at Oregon State University?

Danté: We have a little over 400 total registered clubs and organizations, that includes our sport clubs which are really programs of recreational sports not really recognized.

Q: Why should students get involved with clubs at OSU?

Danté: To help students get to know more people and get connected with something meaningful on campus you really care about or something that’s really interesting to them. It’s also a way for students to potentially learn about something new. In addition to meeting new people, you learn about new topics, or about how to enhance your major.

A club could compliment what a student is studying and help them focus in that area. We have so many professional based student organizations that cater to that need, or it could be something completely separate from their interests. Maybe a student is an engineering major but can also be a part of the gaming club for fun and relief.

Clubs can help students learn transferable skills for life. They could be a potential office for an organization, learn about managing people, running meetings, managing budgets, navigating bureaucracy, requesting funds, planning events and activities and having difficult conversations. There are so many skills that can be learned that transfer to whatever students decide to do in life either within or beyond their career.

Data shows that students who get involved with student organizations on campus are more likely to graduate, more likely to enjoy their experience at OSU, more likely to stay on this campus and to have an impact. It’s really important as a University to try and find ways to engage that. So with over 400 clubs on campus, we have over 15000 students involved with those clubs. So over half of OSU students are connected to a recognized student organization on this campus, which obviously is having a huge impact on their ability to stay and to be successful and eventually graduate from OSU.

Q: How can students get involved with clubs and organizations on campus?

Danté: There are some clubs that are completely open in terms of if you find their information on their website, there’s an option just to “join now.” That would get students added to the roster, and as the club is communicating information about meetings and times like that they will start getting that information naturally. 

Clubs, we ask them to report when their meetings are so you can find their schedule on our website, and you can pop in to one of the meetings to get to know people.

At the beginning of the school year on the first day of classes, Sep. 20., we will have the Beaver Community Fair out at the quad where I would expect in the range of about 100 to 150 clubs to be out there tabling to recruit people. It will be the first opportunity to start to explore some of the clubs on campus and talk with some of the student members and officers of those organizations on campus.

In general, any student can just pop into our office in SEC 108 and we can help them start to identify clubs that might be of interest and who their contacts are. So, we can facilitate access to getting information about clubs and getting connected with people.

It will take a student taking some level of self-initiative to actually go to a meeting or make initial contact, but we’ll do everything we can to support a

student in doing that.