The number of student organizations at Belmont continues to rise in both number and diversity with the addition of nine new on-campus groups.
The organizations approved this semester include HOPE Council, Belmont Student Emergency Response Team, United Nations Children’s Fund, Belmont Chapter of the American Music Therapy Association for Students, National Science Teacher Student Association, Omicron Delta Kappa Leadership Honor Society, Hiking Club, Longboarding Club and 629 Dance Group.
HOPE Council, which seeks to promote diversity and represents all demographics on-campus, was created in January. It is overseen by Assistant Dean of Students and University Title IX Coordinator, Neil Jamerson.
Freshman Amy Hart brought United Nations Children’s Fund to Belmont. UNICEF works to support children’s basic needs worldwide.
“I was extremely surprised by how organically it all fell together,” she said. “Our team is made up of a group of passionate people whom I owe everything to; without them none of this would be possible.”
After starting a longboarding Facebook page his freshman year, sophomore Nick Jones took further steps this year to create a Longboarding Club.
“The only sort of setback we had was regarding Belmont’s skateboarding policy,” said Jones. “To avoid any sort of trouble, we decided that we would not hold any longboarding events on campus.”
Belmont has a total of 147 student organizations. Since 2010, Belmont has added 53 organizations, with 17 added in the past year.
To get an organization approved, students must see the Assistant Director of Student Engagement and Leadership Development Sara Stacy.
The student should discuss the organization’s intention and make sure it’s different from other student organizations, said Stacy.
After that, prospective organizations can hold three meetings are on campus, date and time decided by SELD.
While every application is reviewed and there isn’t an exact criteria for approval, organizations seeking approval do need four officers and at least eight members, and must be different enough from existing ones, said Stacy.
They also need to “be congruent with Belmont’s mission, vision and values,” she said.
To see the full list of student organizations, click here.