The Observer, April 25, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 26
Questions regarding event overprogramming foster discussion
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To say a few events have been occurring lately would be putting it mildly. Beta Walk-a-thon, Relay for Life, Phi Psi Softball Tournament, Hudson Relays, Spot Night, Springfest, formals, hand massages, sand art, Cedar Cabaret, cultural shows, jazz ensembles, ExtravaDance, RHA Movie on the Diamond, concert choir, guest lectures, Research ShowCASE, Pizzalympics, and varsity athletics all need people to come and support them in order to help the sponsoring organizations thrive.
With 156 student organizations recognized for fall 2008 and University Program Board, Class Officers Collective, Greek Life, and RHA all vying for students' time and interest, is overprogramming present at Case? And if so, is it actually a problem?
The Student Activities and Leadership Office oversees COC, USG, UPB, and Journey Council, giving director Colleen Barker-Williamson unique insight into programming at Case.
"My staff is just exhausted [this time of year] from helping with all the events. This isn't unique to this year by any means; I've been doing this for so long," said Barker-Williamson.
Recently, Greek Life created an overprogramming committee, consisting of seven involved individuals independent of the executive committee, to find out if it is indeed a problem on campus, and what can be done to circumvent the issues that arise. The committee is in the fact-gathering stage, taking chapter calendars, distributing questionnaires, and finding out national chapter requirements for philanthropy.
"Planning all around can help. Communication, telling the necessary people by planning ahead prevents these problems that arise when we have three huge programs in one weekend. It also depends on when you put your program on. The ones that are every year at the end of the semester, like 24-hour softball, can be planned around," said Elisse Cortez, programming vice president for Pan-Hellenic Council.
Yanink Cohen, vice president of programing for Interfraternity Congress, is in the process of creating a Greek Life calendar for the fall semester that will facilitate better planning of events. There will be two calendars, one for the Greek Life website consisting of concrete dates and the other for internal use among IFC and PHC consisting of more events with tentative dates.
IFC president Matt Robinett said, "It gets to a point, especially in the spring where a lot of this is unavoidable. There are four or five good weekends that have good weather that people would like to participate in your philanthropy event. With two-thirds of Greek Life wanting to have events and half of them outside, those weekends get busy real quick. April and October always seem to be crazy."
With so many student organizations, finding a niche on campus can make or break the longevity of clubs. RHA and COC seem to be relatively unaffected by overprogramming issues due to their nature. RHA holds residential college building events often on Thursday, a seldom programmed day of the week. COC holds such events that are unique to Case's tradition, with dates planned far in the future to prevent conflicts.
"A lot of our programs are rather large and tend to be heavily attended. These things include Snowball and Homecoming. Groups aren't going to plan things Homecoming weekend; there's too much going on. I feel if there was overprogramming on campus we wouldn't be affected," said senior class president Lauren Hassen.
While there are overlaps in clubs, most have very different causes and interests. "I know there are a lot of programs, but each brings a unique view and does something different towards different goals," said Cortez.
With so many events on campus, advertising and differentiating events is a daunting task. RHA and UPB have increased the sophistication of publicity, utilizing photos.case.edu and the Nord printing labs along with traditional e-mail, flyers, and table tents.
To help alleviate the problem of communication among groups, a campus-wide calendar solution is being devised that will incorporate all programming on campus. According to Barker-Williamson, four or five calendars are currently under consideration, with the plan to be incorporated barring any financial problems over the summer. Northwestern University's "Plan-It Purple" was an inspiration, with its searchable schedule based on interests and its ease of use.
"I really think for something like this to work the culture of Case Western will have to change," said Barker-Williamson. "Instead of asking a friend what is going on that weekend, they'll go straight to the calendar and plan out their weekend around their academics and other engagements. Also, the event programmers will look forward on the calendar and see if the date is filled and decide whether they will collaborate and make an event better or decide that the groups cater to different enough groups and continue planning."
"If someone comes up to me complaining there's nothing to do on campus, I'll be able to give them a calendar soon with all the events on it, telling them what they are missing. If they aren't interested in any of those I would suggest they talk to UPB or whatever organization and can almost guarantee that such an event can be planned. There's almost no excuse to feel bored at Case," said Meck.
