[HIDDEN] New Group Registration Stage

New Group Registration Stage

After an initial successful consultation meeting with an SGS staff member, the group’s proposal will be approved and they will gain access to the group page on Rubric. 

Details regarding the entire New Group Process Timeline can be found here.

Constitution

During your initial consultation meeting, SGS staff will provide you with a constitution. This will be created based on our template version, and your input! You will learn about each section of the constitution and the importance of using one. After a year of using the provided constitution, you may also submit amendments for approval.

Please note that all amendments must be approved by SGS following the steps on this page. 

Elections

Once your constitution is created and you add your members to your page, your group must hold elections for executive roles; you will not be able to use Rubric for this initial election as the feature requires your group to be affiliated to fully set up. New groups do not have to use this month as their election month in the future, but even initial executives must be democratically elected, excluding the president, who can be the founding student. You should follow the election process that you have laid out in your constitution. We recommend that you refrain from choosing March or April as your election month in the future, as this will lead to your registration being due in April or May during exam season.

Training

Now that your executives have been elected, they’ll need to complete mandatory training  before your group can be officially recognized. All groups must complete both Group Leader Orientation (GLO) training and Event Organizer Training (EOT) prior to submitting their registration. We recommend that the President complete GLO Essentials, the Treasurer complete GLO Finance, and any executive may complete GLO skills on behalf of the group. EOT can be completed by any two executives who will be involved in event planning.

Mandatory Check-In Email

In the fourth month of your group’s new group round, SGS staff will require you to respond to a check-in email to ensure you’re on track to submit your registration by the end of the month.  If you do not respond to the check-in email and don’t get in touch with us, we will consider your new group abandoned and deactivate the page.

Optional: Clubs Fair

Student Group Services aims to provide recruitment opportunities to both new and returning student groups at the beginning of the semester. New groups are not eligible to sign up to table at Clubs Fair without permission from SGS. If this option is available during Clubs Fair, you’ll receive information about how to sign up ahead of time!

Registration Submission

Initial registrations for new groups are due by the end of the fourth month of their new group round. Not sure when yours is due? Check this chart! Student Group Services staff will also remind new groups about their registration deadline via email.

To access the registration form, log into Rubric with your club account. Alternatively, if you’re on the group’s roster, you can log in with your student account and “switch” to the club account. Once you are logged in to your club account, select the “forms” section at the top of the page. Under “affiliation forms,” select the “Student Group Initial Registration” form.

Preparing for registration

There are many documents you will need to have ready to upload during registration. Make sure you check out the “registration overview” page for more information about what to expect from the registration form, once it's launched!

Registration review

Student Group Services Staff will review the new group registration within 2-3 weeks. The processing times can vary depending on the time of the year and workload. Student Group Services staff will read through registrations and ensure the submission meets our requirements.

Sometimes we will need to loop in staff from the Student Success & Experience or the Graduate Students’ Association. If additional review is required, this may lead to your submission taking longer to be approved or denied. Our team will be in touch with you to make any anticipated changes, such as constitution amendments, while we wait for other units to provide input. If changes need to be made, we will deny your registration submission and ask you to resubmit it with the necessary edits.

There is a high chance that we will deny your first registration submission, but this is common! Here are some frequently cited reasons we may deny a new group registration:

• Not enough members/membership ratio is not in compliance: all registered student groups must have at least 10 student members, and ⅔ of members must be students if non-students are allowed to join.

• Executives not elected by general membership: Student group executives must be elected annually through a transparent democratic process in which the general membership can vote.

• President and treasurer are the same person: you must have at least two executives, and your president cannot be responsible for your finances.

• Incomplete or incorrect forms: make sure the right people sign and initial all relevant areas on the correct liability forms and the external affiliate letter if applicable.

• Constitution: most new group constitutions will need amendments.

SGS staff will provide you with guidance on how to edit your application to ensure it’s in compliance. You will have one month from the date of your denial to resubmit your application with the required edits. If you do not resubmit your registration application within this time period and don’t get in touch with us, we will consider your new group abandoned and deactivate the page. If your application is approved, you’ll hear from us via email and get full access to Rubric and student group perks!

You’re a group! Now what?

Congratulations! You are now officially recognized as a student group and there are plenty of perks to go with it. So what should you do next?

• Get a CCID for your group: this can be a great way to centralize emails to your group. It’s important to note, though, that student group CCIDs need to be renewed every year, so avoid keeping everything within a Google Drive associated only with a student group CCID.

• Open a bank account: If you plan to apply for grants or charge a membership fee, you will need to open a community bank account for your student group. You can request a verification letter from SGS staff via the Verification Letter Request form! More information about finances can be found in our financial handbook.

• Apply for funding: UASU-recognized groups are eligible to apply for the Student Group Granting Program.

• Print business cards or banners: UASU-recognized groups are eligible for discounts at SUBprint, through the Student Group Discount Card program.

• Book a room: Registered student groups can book classrooms and meeting rooms on campus. Check out our campus bookings page for more information.

• Prep for transitions: Maybe the next round of executives is the last thing you’re thinking about right now, but it’s helpful to work on your transition document from the very beginning. Check out our transition handbook for help.