Student organizations at UH are now required to receive guidance from a faculty member. | Rebekah Stearns/The Daily Cougar
The University is pushing forward with its requirement to recruit a faculty or staff adviser for all registered student organizations during the annual Organization Registration meetings that will be held in the coming week.
Marcella Leung, the director of the Center for Student Involvement, said student organizations with an adviser are typically more active than those without.
“Advisers can provide continuity when student officers change over, advice on problems and issues and insight on institutional policies and procedures,” she said.
Until this year, UH was one of two large universities in Texas that did not have the adviser requirement, said Leung.
“In 2012-13, 45 percent of the UH-registered student organizations had a faculty or staff adviser,” Leung said. “The hope is that the … organizations that have not had advisers will become better-supported and more robust.”
All fraternities and sororities, which are registered student organizations at UH, already have chapter or alumni advisers. The faculty or staff adviser will join that team.
“I think having a faculty adviser will weave the fraternities and sororities within the campus. We hope to see these advisers provide coaching and mentorship for these students,” said Jason Bergeron, director of the Center for Fraternity & Sorority Life.
Robust student organizations at UH help students apply classroom teachings to real-world settings, acquire leadership and organizational skills, build support networks and enhance campus life, Leung said.
“I believe that joining an organization is really important for an individual to grow and gain real life experiences to become leaders of tomorrow’s global community,” said biology sophomore Sonakshee Shree, vice president of the pre-medical honor society, Alpha Epsilon Delta.
“Having an adviser really helps an organization because (they are) someone who keeps the officers in check. (They) also give suggestions on how to become more involved with our members, how we can do things differently and provide us with opportunities that will help us succeed.”
According to Leung, organizations will receive multiple reminders of the new requirement. Organizations that do not comply will not be considered registered with the University.
“UH was one of two large universities in Texas that did not have the adviser requirement” – It’s not a major thing, but it’d be nice to report what the other university he was indicating with this statement just for those of us curious.