Early this semester, the Office of Undergraduate Student Life (OSL) made several changes to student organization policy. Two additions added requirements for disclaimers to be included on all student organization fliers and promotional material. To learn more about the reasons for these changes, The Stute spoke with Vice President for Student Affairs, Dr. Sara Klein.
As announced on September 19 in an email to all undergraduate students, the university now requires that all organizations include the following disclaimer on all fliers, social media advertising, and websites, including DuckLink websites: “The views and opinions expressed on this channel are solely those of [insert student organization name] and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Stevens Institute of Technology.” In addition, affinity-based organizations, which are generally formed to celebrate identity or cultural groups on campus, must include a separate disclaimer noting that the organization and school do not discriminate by federally protected classes, like race and gender. These policies are outlined in the Student Organization Policy Manual for the 2024-2025 academic year available on DuckLink.
Dr. Klein explained that the latter disclaimer brings all student organizations into compliance with federal nondiscrimination law. “As a recipient of federal and state funding, the university must comply with various laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, and religion,” among other classes.
For organizations that don’t know how to include the new statements in their material, Dr. Klein says that OSL has also produced a Canva template to give student leaders examples and guidance. “Organizations can easily incorporate this into any flier or social media post, or alternatively add the statements as a legible footnote in their marketing materials.”
Dr. Klein gave some more reasons for the policy change. “These are values which are deeply held by Stevens,” she noted. “This standardized statement provides consistent clarity across all student organization promotional materials.”
Some student leaders have expressed irritation at the need to include disclaimers on all their promotional material. “Why do I have to say my viewpoints are not that of Stevens when we’re not expressing any viewpoints?” said one president of a long-running student organization to The Stute. “We’re just trying to paint some pumpkins. What are they so scared that we’re going to say? Was there an incident that actually warranted this? If so, why don’t they tell us what that is?” The president concluded his assessment of the disclaimer policy with a vulgarity.
Dr. Klein disagrees. “As all student organizations are using social media accounts to share information and Stevens does not administer or monitor those accounts, it is reasonable to request that this disclaimer is included on any student organization social media post.”
Despite some negative feedback to the disclaimer changes, Dr. Klein says that the Office of Undergraduate Student Life has been working hard behind the scenes to streamline the experience of serving as a student leader on campus and has been receiving positive reactions. “This year, we simplified student organization training by requiring only presidents and treasurers to attend the Duck Leadership series, removing the requirement for a third officer.” Additionally, the office implemented additional guidance into the student leader onboarding process established by the SGA to improve new leaders’ knowledge of policies and procedures.
While the new policy changes have received mixed reactions from the student community, Dr. Klein and the rest of OSL hope the policy changes increase the university’s compliance with federal law and improve the consistency of the school’s image. Meanwhile, other changes continue to be made to enhance and refine the experience of joining and leading organizations on campus.
