ICC’s mission to clean up clubs

Samo’s Inter-Clubs Council (ICC) stepped into the ’25-26 school year with new guidelines for clubs to concise the number of clubs, putting the focus on club quality and publicity rather than variety.

This year, ICC is focusing on enforcing deadlines on tasks for clubs to ensure Samo’s clubs are held to a high standard. These regulations are continuations of the guidelines set last year. The additions made last year created different forms and documents for clubs to complete and adopt. This year, to be regarded as valid by the ICC and qualify for Club Row, clubs must fill out Club Handbook Compliance Contracts and create Club Constitutions and Budget Plans for the school year by early Sept. Ariana Rubio (’26), ICC’s Commissioner, shared what the committee hopes to accomplish via these new rules.

“We want them to be seen from the whole student body… With the guidelines, we were trying to lessen [the club amount] so if the clubs have similar topics then we want them to merge within each other,” Rubio said. “We want to make sure that the clubs are eligible and if they aren’t following the rules, then they probably shouldn’t be a club at Samo.”

Rubio stressed that the purpose of these guidelines is to make sure clubs stay active on campus and that she hopes club leaders will be understanding of their purpose. These guidelines include new deadlines for ‘minutes’ submissions where students document the agenda of each club meeting, club probation in the case of missing deadlines or events, updated membership requirements and on-campus activity requirements. The ICC also brought a new event similar to Club Row, starting in Sept., called Club Showcase. The Showcase hosts certain genres of clubs on campus every Wednesday, such as the Awareness/Inclusivity/Culture genre.

However, a few clubs at Samo have expressed that the guidelines are too overwhelming to follow precisely. Aubrielle Gomez (’26), the president of Black Student Union, is also on the ICC board. Gomez commented on the method in which ICC leaders presented these new guidelines.

“I’m on the ICC committee, but I haven’t been able to approve any of these new regulations because last year they passed the Constitution and Bylaws for the clubs and my entire committee had no say in it at all. It’s a little difficult to deal with being a club and having to follow the guidelines and then also being on the committee. It’s hard to take all the backlash coming from it,” Gomez said. “All of these new requirements are definitely hard on the clubs.”

It’s required by the ICC for clubs to host at least one event on campus per semester. In order to request activities, club leaders must find dates that are compatible with all members and submit an activity form at least two weeks in advance.

Another regulation the ICC has adjusted this year is the club member requirements. In order to stay valid, clubs must have 12 or more consistent members. The ICC checks this through attendance submitted via the ‘minutes’ document. Noah Pust (’26), the president of the Higher Mathematics Club, said he felt that these regulations did not accomplish what the ICC meant them to. 

“It’s kind of ridiculous that we have to have 12 people in order to be a club,” Pust said. “A lot of people are just focused on getting the names for the sign-up sheets and I don’t think that’s what we should be focusing on… Trying to force [membership] up to 12 just takes all the fun out of having a club.”