In the past 20 years, the number of magazines published and circulated in the United States has grown exponentially, fueled by the boom in niche publications -- magazines tailored to specific groups or interests such as bow hunting or garden designs.
Student organizations at Ball State have experienced a similar boom. In the past 15 years, more than 35 organizations have started on campus. Most serve a narrow specialty audience, focusing on a particular hobby or interest. At the same time, some traditional mainstays are struggling with relatively low membership. The trend points to an increasing need by college students to participate in activities that relate to their interests rather than the predetermined interests of another generation.
"Membership in organizations is pretty cyclical, maybe even a pendulum," said Brett Perozzi, associate director for the Association of College Unions International. Perozzi said overall student participation in organizations has generally gone through periods of rise and fall in membership and now could be on an upswing.
"Rather than joining larger organizations," he said, "maybe students are now looking at ways of making connections through niche organizations. I can see where that would make some sense."
ORGANIZATIONS MULTIPLY
In 1990, Ball State recognized 293 student organizations. This year 330 organizations -- 24 of which were not listed last year -- have updated their profiles with the Student Organizations and Activities office. Some traditional college organizations have seen declining participation in recent years. More than a third of Student Senate seats are empty, and fraternity membership has dropped more than 40 percent in 10 years. Meanwhile, this year saw the start of such groups as the Scrapbook Club and Students for Academic Freedom.
Kay Bales, associate vice president for student life, estimates that in the 15 years she has worked at Ball State, the number of student organizations has been as high as 340 and as low as 250. Stacy Myers, who coordinates the Student Organizations and Activities office, estimates there are 15 more organizations than when she started her job eight years ago.
Bales doesn't see the growing number of specialized groups as competing with the general ones for the same students. The university has enough students to support the organizations it has, she says. Instead, she sees time demands as a big reason for the decline in participation because many students work, and some groups require more time commitment than others.
Although some students may stretch themselves thin by trying to do too much, the goal is not to create more organizations so those students can further clutter their schedules, she said. Instead, the university wants to appeal to more students in general.
"The more you have to offer, the better chance you have of connecting with someone," Bales said. "One of the things we encourage every student to do is have an interest, whether it's a hobby or an issue, and at times there's no organization to channel that activity."
As a result, groups such as the Knitting and Crochet Circle and the Body Modification Club have begun at Ball State in the last few years.
"I think it's more a shift in people's personality," Terry Frazier, assistant director for Student Organizations and Activities, said. "People are picking and choosing based on what fits them."???????
At the heart of the matter, Bales said, is time management and internal drive, or motivation to get involved.
"As long as I've been in this profession, even then students were talking about apathy among peers," she said. "I still see them talking about it."??????
Basically, Bales wants to see more students involved in something.
"I talk to freshmen [at orientation] about managing their time and to choose just one organization to get involved in."
MORE LEADERSHIP ROLES
Although many students take part in multiple organizations, others drop one organization in favor of a specialized one, partly because they feel their contributions don't matter, so they lose interest. For some, that specialized organization might deal with a hobby, such as the bowling or chess clubs. For others, career-based or departmental organizations, such as the History Club or the Society of Newspaper Design, are options.
One thing Perozzi sees happening nationally is the rise in the number and variety of religious organizations for students. He said this could be because of a societal shift in spiritualism. In fact, ACCORD (Acquiring Christ's Consciousness on Reaching Diversity) is one of Ball State's new organizations this year.
Over the past 20 to 30 years, the university has been more open to the number of students who want to take on leadership roles, Frazier said.
"How cool would it be to say 'I founded a student organization,'" Frazier said. "You can say to an employer 'I know what it takes to run an organization.'"
A HEALTHY CAMPUS
Bales said she doesn't worry about traditional organizations, such as fraternities, academic honor societies and departmental groups, completely dissolving, even if memberships decline. Those organizations have a measure of stability and continuity because they have faculty or staff paid to be advisers.
Instead, the same special-interest organizations that fueled the numbers boom are often the first to dissipate, mainly because interest doesn't carry on to new students. This year, for example, there are 24 new organizations, but that didn't increase the total number of organizations by 24, because several other organizations dropped out.
"I think it's because there's not enough appeal to a large number of students," Bales said. "It doesn't resonate."
The organization simply might be a bad one. "If you're not organized, not meeting goals and not providing what you promised to people who join, then that group needs to some internal reflection," Bales said.
No matter the organization or activity at Ball State, Frazier said involvement in them is the best social networking. It is what students remember the most.
"Years later, you always talk about 'My experience at the football game, or in the student group,'" he said, "not that quantum physics professor."
Butch Oxendine, publisher of Student Leader magazine, added that when students are involved, it makes for a healthy campus.
"If you enjoy something, you'll stay in school," he said, "and you might be a more active alum."
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