Shireen Gul COPY EDITOR Pakistan Student Association (PSA) will be hosting their very first event of the semester, PSA Dance and Henna Night on Thursday, November 13, at The Bog. The event is going to be something big for the organiza- tion because they will be hosting such an event after a long time. As mentioned earlier, the event will take place in The Bog, from 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 Tuesday, November 11th, 2014 | PSA organizes dance andhenna night am. The best part of this event is that it’s free and there will be a lot of things to do. There will also be some awesome Pakistani snacks for to munch on while getting the henna tat- too and after that everyone can enjoy the dance party. There will be a beautiful backdrop where people can get a photo of their henna tattoo, if they want to. Make sure to arrive before 10 p.m. to get a free tattoo as they will be signing students in for the first half-hour for free henna tattoos. The organization has also created a Facebook event so make sure to join it and invite your friends as well. This is the first time at IIT that an oflicial henna night is taking place. Be sure to attend and bring friends in order to encour— age the event to be organized in the future. PSA will also be hosting their first General Board Meeting on November 20, dur- ing lunch hour in the Wishnick Auditorium. They will be introducing their executive board to the students and will be looking forward to suggestions from them about what kind of events they are looking for. There will be free 5 Pakistani food at the meeting. Be there on time to voice your opinion. Finally, don’t forget to join them on Hakaink and like them on Facebook under the name of “HT Pakistan Student Associa- tion.” They will also be on the MTCC Bridge every Monday from 12:45 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. Stop by to ask questions and grab some free goodies. Advice for new student organizations seeking approval Zofie Mandelski TECHNEWS WRITER There are three major things that fail to get a student organization approved: lack of a specific plan, not enough initial student in- terest, and having an existing resource on cam- pus that does what the organization would do. These are things that are covered in the steps preceding a student organization’s presenta- tion to the Student Government Association Senate, yet sometimes they are not clearly pres- ent in the organization’s presentation. An organization has five minutes to present their case to the student Senate and an additional two minutes, plus whatever exten— sions the Senate motions for, to answer any questions the Senators and other representa— tives have. This is not a very long time to pres- ent a full schedule of events the organization wishes to hold, so it’s recommended that such an organization provide a sampling of the type of events it will hold. Planning for events also means organization staff should have a budget planned out for the semester. Keep in mind that they will expect the organization have a backup plan in case SAF funds are less than what was requested. It is required for a student organi- zation to have a minimum of ten interested members to get to Senate. Yet when a student organization only has ten members, it raises the question of if the organization will be sus— tainable. The expectation is that each organiza— tion has had at least one interest meeting, the number of people who show up to the meet- ings before the Senate presentation is impor- tant to keep track of. If an organization can’t get more than ten members before they are approved, how will they gain members in the future? It looks like the organization will die out after the founders leave. The immediate impact that a student organization will make is important, but the long—term ability of the organization to remain active and contribute to the campus in the years to come, is just as important. Lastly, an organization should pres- ent what it is they will do that is unique to their organization. Inclusivity of other organizations is great, but what can the new organization add to the campus. There are over 108 student organizations on campus. If something is al- ready being done by another organization or if the resources a new organization will have are already available, there is no reason for the Senate to approve the new organization. Collaboration is great, but having multiple organizations doing the same thing is boring and wasteful. Emphasizing an organization’s unique attributes is important. The Oflice of Campus Life has a nice step-by-step guide to starting out in their Stu- dent Organization pages. If you’re starting a new student organization and on the way to the Senate, have a nice looking presentation, keeping these points in mind, you’ll do fine. editor@technewsiit.cam MAI) with ()UF business@technewsiit.com Al) VIA