After a snow day dashed any hope for last Wednesday’s annual Spring Involvement Fair, student center officials decided that a rescheduled involvement fair wasn’t in the cards.
According to Erin Twomey, associate director of the student center and go-to administrator for student organizations, a plan to reschedule the involvement fair at a reasonable time was near impossible.
“The consensus was if we couldn’t have it in a certain timeframe, it didn’t make sense to have it,” she said. “It came down to timing, and availability of a large space to host that type of event in a timely fashion.
“It’s a hard decision to make, because you don’t want to stifle a student from getting involved, and you don’t want to stifle a club or organization from getting their message out.”
What made the decision easier, Twomey said, was the student center’s newest outlet, the “Do You QU,” website hosted by CollegiateLink.
“If we’re not going to have the fair, we’ll at least have the website to fall back on,” she said. “Knowing that there’s this social network community we’ve launched that any student can find involvement if they’re looking for something – it makes it an easier decision.”
The semesterly involvement fairs are unique events–the only points during the year where every student organization has the chance to gather in a central location. Sign-up sheets, cheap trinkets (don’t forget WQAQ’s infamous slingshot), and one-on-one interaction with organizational executives give organizations a chance to boost membership considerably in a matter of hours.
Without it, Q30 General Manager Kristen Swartz forecasted repercussions for the campus television station.
“It was definitely a blow to Q30, because the involvement fair helps us out a lot,” Swartz said. “A lot of our involvement comes directly from the involvement fair.
“I absolutely think the involvement fair is important to be rescheduled. Even as a senior, I wait for these involvement fairs to interact with these organizations, and I can only imagine how many people are feeling the same way.”
