Student Government (SG) will release a new magazine within the next month to provide student groups a forum for advertising their events.
The quarterly magazine, untitled as of yet, is meant to raise awareness of organizations among the student body. These organizations not only include Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), but also Greek organizations and athletic teams. “It will, we hope, give students a quarter-long outlook of what will be happening on campus, and a better idea of what they could be involved in,” said Kate Oppenheim, chair of the Marketing and Publicity Committee of SG, whose main goal for this year is to produce the magazine.
The magazine will contain information about student organizations in a variety of formats. The bulk of the magazine will be comprised of articles written by RSO heads, giving them the opportunity to explain thoroughly their organizations, what they have done in the past, and what their goals are for the future. Organizations will also provide event calendars, pictures from past events, meeting schedules, and a list of executive officers and/or contacts for students who wish to get involved.
SG is busy at work putting together the magazine for its upcoming publication. “At the moment, we’re collecting articles and event listings from RSOs, and would be thrilled to hear from any [groups] we haven’t spoken to yet,” Oppenheim said.
The first issue is scheduled to come out during fifth week of this quarter, and the next issue is to be published and distributed in the first week of Spring Quarter. Ideally, SG will publish a new issue of the magazine in the beginning of each quarter in the future.
Because organizations still have a few weeks left to submit their articles, the list of RSOs participating in the magazine has not yet been finalized. Larger organizations, such as Model United Nations and the Asian Students Union, will be definite contributors. “We’re shooting for at least two cultural RSOs, two sports teams, a sorority, and fraternities to submit articles,” said Robert Hubbard, SG President.
SG sees the magazine as an excellent way for RSOs to advertise and as a better alternative to putting up posters around campus. “Postering on this campus is very hectic,” Hubbard said. “There could be 80 posters on a bulletin board at a time, forcing RSOs to compete for advertising space.”
Oppenheim furthered Hubbard’s rationale, saying, “Also, because we’re giving RSOs the chance to write articles about what their organization does, what their goals are, and when they meetÂ…RSOs [will have] free exposure to the entire campus on a more detailed level than you would get, say, walking past a crowded bulletin board.”
Hubbard explained that a student could potentially walk past a bulletin board, read a poster for an RSO’s event, yet not even know for what the organization’s acronym stands. “Through the magazine we’re hoping to give background for people to get more information as to what they’ll be seeing at a SASA show, for example,” he said.
The student organization magazine, which was originally proposed by the slate last spring as a means of connecting SG, the student body, RSOs, and the administration, will be distributed throughout campus.
