Student involvement in clubs and student organizations at Wichita State was nearly cut in half by the COVID-19 pandemic, but has rebounded in the past year, according to data collected by The Sunflower.
Student Engagement and Belonging’s annual reports show that the number of active student organizations had risen for four consecutive years beginning in 2016, peaking at 325 organizations in spring 2020. By spring 2023, however, there were just 174 student organizations, a 46% decrease.
Today, there are 253 active organizations — still less than the peak prior to the pandemic, but a dramatic increase from just a few years ago.
“I think we’re almost comfortably back where … like the 2018-2019, where you have more active organizations who are coming out,” said Tia Hill, the associate director of Student Engagement and Belonging. “They’re doing social events, they’re participating in involvement fairs. They’re holding info tables downstairs and recruiting new members. And they’re wanting to leave a legacy, and they’re wanting to ensure the longevity of that organization.”
Hill said that during COVID, the senior leadership of many organizations graduated, leaving the groups dormant. Over the past few years, many former advisors and leaders of those organizations have worked to revive them and officially re-register them with the university.
“I think how we got to that number was not us getting to that number, but those student organizations naturally replenishing themselves and becoming more open and visible to the campus community,” Hill said. “And at that point, when they get more members, they come looking for resources, and then they re-registered with us.”
Hill said it’s important for student organizations to match the needs and interests of students. Whether it’s a career-based club that could set a student apart on a resume or a cultural/social club that could allow students to find a community, student organizations are critical to the campus experience.
“It creates more vibrant campus life, and it creates a lot more opportunities for students to be social or engage with others,” Hill said.
COVID challenges
As of spring 2024, there were 424 active student organizations at Kansas State University and 498 at the University of Kansas. Adjusting for enrollment, there is one student org per around every 38 full-time students at Kansas State and 47 at Kansas.
The post-COVID lag in student organizations hit Wichita State especially hard. In 2023, WSU was down to one club for every 68 people. Now, with the increase in student involvement, Wichita State is between KU and K-State with one organization per 45.6 full-time students.
According to Hill, there was still interest in student organizations during the pandemic, but it took students time to re-acclimate to in-person meetings.
“The decline is all having to do with graduation numbers, the willingness of people to want to take on leadership positions and the comfortability of people wanting to be in social spaces,” Hill said.
University policies posed another issue. New student leaders had to re-learn Shocker Sync and understand how to set up a student organization.
Abbi Whisler, the registered student organization coordinator from 2021-2023, estimates that she trained roughly 200 advisors during that time. She also reintroduced many student leaders to the process of running a club.
“Some students had been maybe set in their ways of like, ‘This is how we did it before,’” Whistler said. “And we haven’t had to really do anything during COVID, because a lot of events, you couldn’t have them just due to the safety regulations or whatnot. And then coming back to a new person who is setting their expectations, the new rules and regulations, because we do policy changes every summer.”
Hill said cultural and career-based organizations were often the first to regain membership post-COVID, while social and special interest clubs lagged behind.
“They’re just looking to socialize in a different way,” Hill said. “And I think that’s all it is, is just building those connections and spaces and places that they already exist in.”
It took a few years post-COVID for student activity to recover. The number of active student organizations dropped every year between 2020 and 2023. Hill said this was because it took a while for people who weren’t as impacted by COVID to become college students.
“It’s come with time where we’re now seeing more leaders who have more leadership experience, and therefore have more comfort with either starting their own group or are comfortable being a member of another group,” Hill said. “And so that’s just a natural progression that has happened over time.”
However, Malaree Hood, the assistant director of Student Engagement and Belonging, said student organizations might never fully recover to what they were prior to the pandemic.
“I don’t think anything will ever be the way that it was before COVID,” Hood said. “I think COVID taught us a lot of really great things … I also think that it has hurt us as well, and I don’t think that we will be able to get back to where we were COVID-wise.”
Despite this sentiment, Hood reiterated the importance of student organizations for student retention and enjoyment.
“It’s going to be really important for students to just enjoy their experience here, because while there is stuff to do in the community, the only other people who are going to understand your experience are the students who are currently also having your experience, which would be other WSU students,” Hood said.
