Open Expansion and Student Government

[BigRedBeta]

Hmm...that's an interesting question.

I can only speak from my experience...at my alma mater, in order to gain all the benefits that come with being a registered student organization (ie use of campus facilities, equipment rental, getting free pepsi products for meetings/events which was part of the campus agreement with Pepsi, etc), you had to have approval from the student government and be recognized as a registered student org. But they certainly couldn't hold you to any higher standard than what they would have asked for the Anime club, the Future Business Leaders of America, any of the service or honorary fraternities, or any other student organization.

Now as long as there's some benefits (like free meeting space) that comes from Student Gov approval, I think you need to play ball with the Student Senate. But the moment they start asking you for information or data or anything that would go beyond what they would ask of any other new student organization of any other form, then they're overstepping their bounds, and you should make it patently clear what you believe their scope of power allows them to do. So long as they're asking only what would be expected of any other new organization, it's not against the open expansion policies.