I’ve noticed a lot of the student activities I have browsed on the Bowdoin and related websites appear to have not been maintained (at least on the websites) for a long time, suggesting they may no longer be active or operating. Any current student have any insight into the examples below in particular or whether orgs. phasing out are common? The student theater organization in particular seems odd since it had been around for 100 years.
Bowdoin Student Theater (Masque and Gown). 113 year tradition, but they stopped updating the website to list shows in 2014:
http://students.bowdoin.edu/masque-gown/
Bowdoin Babble (student run magazine and satire). Also not updated since January of 2014:
https://www.facebook.com/TheBowdoinBabble/
Bowdoin Cable Network. Student-run closed broadcast programming. Seems to have been defunct since 2012:
http://students.bowdoin.edu/bcn/
I ran into a couple other examples. It may just be the types of interests I was browsing but the majority seemed to be inactive. Obviously there must be hundreds of activities and clubs active, but do they phase in and out frequently? Are they replaced with equivalents? For example, is there any student-run theater program (i.e. separate from the Theater Department-affiliated shows)?
BTW, a related question – what does Bowdoin do to support student organizations? A lot of the schools we toured touted how they provide financial and facilities resources for student organizations and how easy it was to start new ones. Does Bowdoin do this as well? Did these orgs that went inactive die due to lack of current student interest as opposed to lack of resources?
Can’t answer most of your questions, but my S was in a Masque & Gown production last weekend. You might want to lsearch the Bowdoin Orient for activities, since the websites aren’t being updated.
My S has sung in the chamber choir for 4 years, and the photo on their website ore-dates him,
I think you will see this at lots of colleges, especially smaller ones. Someone needs to take the lead to maintain the website and keep the clubs going. When students graduate, it can leave a hole that doesn’t get filled. Sometimes the club is still going (and they just have a website maintenance gap) and sometimes it isn’t. I’ve found that asking admissions to find someone for me to email with works – they usually can find out if the club is active or not. But this is by no means just a Bowdoin problem.
Good to hear on Masque & Gown… Does Bowdoin provides funding for student orgs?
Yes, there’s the SAFC, Student Activities Funding Committee. Student groups have a request process in the spring to make their budget requests for the next academic year.
lots of funding available for clubs, facilities are available as well. nobody bothers to update websites b/c we are lazy college students and generally there are better and easier ways to communicate.
P.S. look up olivia atwood wrt masque and gown