Vanderbilt has over 311 registered student organizations, but some students feel they are not all necessary.
This proliferation of student organizations is raising concern at universities across the country, said an Oct. 27 article published by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
"It seems like there are so many organizations that they are overdoing their cause," said freshman Phil Greenwald. "When a cause is overdone, it loses its meaning."
However, some argue that while their themes may be similar, each student group has a different approach.
Face AIDS and VandyCARES are two student groups that serve victims of HIV and AIDS but have slightly different goals. Face AIDS was started by students who participated in last year's Kampala Project, a Maymester service-learning program in Uganda. Face AIDS aims to educate others about the international AIDS pandemic and support local efforts to help victims of HIV and AIDS.
VandyCARES leads most of the local initiatives and is collaborating with Face AIDS and the Global Health Council to plan World Aids Week in December, said president Supriya Sarkar. Their goal is to reach out to Nashville AIDS victims and provide "provocative" information to the Vanderbilt and Nashville communities.
Freshman Shivali Sarawgi, who has considered starting a student organization, feels this collaboration benefits all of campus.
"If people doing similar things could work together they could do more," she said.
Still, the number of student groups continues to grow.
Even more groups have been started since September, when 311 groups were registered at the Office of the Dean of Students.
At the end of October, freshman Ronald Yim resurrected an inactive chapter of the Vanderbilt Sierra Club to offer another environmental perspective, in addition to Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Recycling, Vanderbilt's most active environmental student group.
Yim said Sierra Club plans to work with SPEAR, but no official plans will be made until the group acquires more members.
For now, he plans to focus on hosting speakers and teaching environmental awareness to students in Nashville public schools.
Many other organizations also focus on similar themes, and there are some that serve within the same communities in Nashville and abroad.
This interaction has caused some to wonder if organizations duplicate their efforts.
"It's almost to a point where it's just for show," said freshman Chris Cole.
