UMD is a wonderful place to take part in civic life, especially as a part of a student organization.
I am, however, having a little trouble getting to the 800 number used in this post to desecribe the number of student groups on campus.
If one takes the number of student organizations listed on OrgSync and subtracts community partners (usually non-profits that are not run by students), groups organized for graduate students, greek organizations (which usually include barriers to entry such as pledging, and are therefore not open to the general population), those created by Stamp IT, SORC/Stamp, and the university itself, there are only 793 student organizations at the University of Maryland. This number, of course, includes what could be perhaps hundreds of inactive groups.
What should not matter at Maryland—and for those deciding to attend or donate—is the number of student groups, but the environment in which they can flourish. Maryland does a good job on the latter. Let's not worry about the former.
That aside, wonderful piece. The more the university highlights wonderful student groups, the better.
Christian Knapp
3 years ago