Campus Clubs Remain Inactive Through Second Semester

YCSC Blames 'Student Apathy'

After the student council ran its annual club fair in October, the organization triumphantly proclaimed this year's slate of extracurricular clubs the largest and most varied in Yeshiva's history. In the interim however, the relative inactivity of most clubs on campus has deflated YCSC's initial optimism. The dormant club scene has inspired some activists to question the efficiency of the student council's policies towards extracurricular groups, while some YCSC brass has countered by accusing the Yeshiva student body of apathy.

The fall semester witnessed just a few events, centered around only a handful of clubs, such as the Debate Club, College Bowl, and the Chabad Club. Students have commented that most clubs failed to hold any meaningful activities, while some clubs did not even bother to contact students who expressed interest at the club fair. "I wrote my name down on a lot of the sign-up sheets at the club fair," remarked Joe Feuerstein, a YC sophomore, "but I haven't heard from these clubs since then. I don't think I've seen signs up for more than five events over the entire last semester. I was wondering if the clubs themselves are the problem, or if they are interested but not receiving funds from YCSC."

Dov Brandstatter, Vice President of YCSC, serves as the organization's liaison to the various clubs in YU. "We don't fund the clubs up front," explained Brandstatter, "They come to us, and present their plans for events, and then we allocate money for these events. Our job is to ensure that money is not misused, and we even try to foster club activity somewhat. Unfortunately, there are over 30 clubs, and we can't push each of them incessantly to hold events."

"To tell you the truth," continued Brandstatter, "we were a little disappointed with the poor showing this past semester, and we are in some way responsible, but some of the blame should rest on the club leaders. Why are they not interested in holding more events?"

One noticeably quiet group, the Philosophy Club, attributed its latency to economic factors. "We felt our chief goal was to produce a philosophy journal in accordance with the long-standing tradition of our club," noted David Hain, club Vice President. "Our funding only allows us to pursue this goal at the expense of holding other events. A typical philosophy event would involve bringing in a guest lecturer, and that can cost upwards of a thousand dollars. We decided that our limited resources should be focused on publishing a journal instead of holding events. It would be great if we could do both, but I guess that isn't possible." Hain added that the club is currently accepting journal submissions, and hopes to go to press later in the semester.

In contrast to the general extracurricular malaise on campus, the Iranian Club has conducted numerous events, and plans to hold more. "When I started working for the club, I saw a lot of student interest in displaying the Iranian culture on campus, and even though we have a very small budget compared to other clubs, I tried to make the most of it," said club president Omid Nikrouz. "YCSC definitely didn't encourage us to hold events. We brought our plans to them and they were helpful, but we had to come to them first."

Brandstatter pointed to the Iranian Club as a paradigm of successful club activity. "They advertise well, and they are committed," he said. "The lack of success in most clubs can be attributed to poor advertising, among other things. We have talked about decreasing funding for those clubs that held events for a select few without advertising. Even those that do put signs up can suffer due to overcrowded signboards. The real issue here is one of leadership," he concluded. "Maybe YU just needs more interested student activists."