Addressing the Issue of Club Attendance

Abby Dreyer | Staff Writer

Four-thousand three hundred. To some of you readers, that number may seem vaguely familiar, or perhaps not. Picture in your mind the span of that number for a moment. Imagine four-thousand three hundred flowers, or four-thousand three hundred papers. Four-thousand three hundred – that’s the number of students who attend this school. So why is it that when I go to a club, there are only eight?

I remember my first few weeks here at Eastern rather vividly. I remember being in awe of the club fair, the grandiose scale of it, and all the unique opportunities within. I remember it was almost hard to get around with the sheer number of people in attendance. So, you can imagine my shock when I attended my first few club meetings and found scarcely any people.

Coming from a small high school, and a graduating class of only 130 people, I’m used to clubs with dwindling rosters. However, coming to a university that’s over 10 times the size of that school, I expected more. I could understand, to an extent, a brand new, niche club only having a handful of members. But, the thing is it’s not just the new nor niche clubs. The issue of club attendance is widespread, even affecting the traditionally more popular clubs, such as the major-based ones and the SGA.

Witnessing various club e-board elections this year, it was quite frankly sad to say the least. In the best case scenarios, there were only a couple people to debate for a position. Meanwhile, I know of club officer vacancies that are struggling to even be filled at all. 

So, is it that people just don’t know about these clubs? Maybe. Perhaps more could be done to advertise and get the word out, especially about smaller clubs. However, I don’t think this is the core issue. As I mentioned earlier, attendance boomed at the fall club fair, and the same can be said about the spring one as well. We also live in such a digital age now, to the point where it’s pretty hard to miss campus happenings. Every single day on Eastern’s social media, the clubs, times, and locations are advertised in big letters for all of its followers to see. 

So, then, what is it really? I believe it’s a lack of spirit – one that seems to be consuming our generation more and more. As college students, life can be busy. Managing classes, a social life, maybe employment, and more is challenging enough as is. And, I can’t say I entirely blame anyone for utilizing club time to instead work on other things, or simply take time for themselves, especially in our world where mental health seems to be ever on the decline. 

However, clubs shouldn’t be treated as an extra burden to carry on our shoulders. Clubs are meant to serve us, help us foster our interests, offer us an outlet to do fascinating things, and to help us make positive change in our community. 

And, in my experience, on the whole, that’s what Eastern’s clubs do. I hear about and see all the time clubs going on cool trips and hosting events to help students hone in on professional areas they particularly want to develop. As much as they may seem like an inconvenience at first glance, these clubs really are meant for us. Not only this, but at any time anyone can create a new club. So, even if you don’t like what’s being offered, you can create something uniquely tailored to your desires, no matter how broad or niche. 

The real question is, then, how can these clubs continue to be for us if we don’t go to them? The length of club rosters directly affect the amount of funding clubs get, so simply showing up can make a big difference as to the extent to which the club can support you reciprocally.

And, the thing is this issue goes beyond just within the confines of Eastern. If we can’t take the time now, as college students, to participate in extracurriculars pertaining to things that are designed to benefit us, interest us, and to be a good time, how can we be productive members of society down the line?

Will we simply come home from the work day and ignore the millions of domestic non-profits we could be contributing to? Or, perhaps, we’ll skip out on that town council meeting and leave our fate to chance; or, kick back and relax while our children wonder why their parents didn’t bother to come to watch them win their soccer game. 

Fitting in more activities to an already busy schedule can be challenging, but we cannot simply sit by while club engagement dies. Four-thousand three hundred people – that’s the statistic I began this article with. Think back to when I had you imagine the scope of that, and just how massive that number really is.

It would be great if I could just will everyone into attending clubs more, but change doesn’t work like that. Change starts small. Not at four-thousand three hundred, but at one: you. It may not seem like much, but if you, just you, make a change, I’m willing to bet others will follow. They say four ounces can move a thousand pounds. So, maybe, just maybe, one person can influence four-thousand three hundred.