Student Organizations
There are a number of recognized student organizations at Greyson, ranging from the political to the humanitarian to the mildly ludicrous or frivolous. With the exception of the sororities and fraternities (which technically fall under a separate jurisdiction), all of the organizations and their regular meetings and events are free to all undergraduate and graduate students in good standing; faculty and staff are also permitted to participate in some circumstances, and each group has an academic advisor who is technically supposed to attend at least one out of every four regular meetings, though most advisors are far more lax in their duties.
Considering the size of Greyson's student population and faculty pool, it is actually not especially difficult to form a new organization. To create a new, duly recognized student group, the applicants must have a group charter that has been signed and ratified by at least twenty students and is not in violation of the general student charters. They must also have an academic advisor - a consenting faculty member in good standing - and they must be prepared to hold officer elections within four months of the group's founding. Once all the requirements have been met, the academic advisor and a student representative must attend a meeting of the Student Senate, where the charter must be presented to all senators and subsequently ratified.
All student organizations draw their principal funding from the main Senate treasury, derived from the student activities fee folded into each student's tuition. This money is disbursed by the Senate's Treasury Committee, which meets at the end of each semester to determine the budgets for each group for the following year. Relationships with the senators on the Committee must be carefully cultivated and/or cogent arguments presented if the leaders of any given group hope to have their budget requests approved. Aside from the Senate, student organizations may also accept voluntary donations from alumni and members of the community (the main student charter prohibits soliciting or accepting donations from presently enrolled students), or they may engage in fundraising efforts as outlined in the university bylaws.
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