BBA Clubs Open Membership, Expand Umbrellas

BBA Council is mandating its clubs to include more students by Spring 2019, according to BBA Council President Jay Krishnaswamy (16Ox, 19B).

Krishnaswamy said some BBA clubs currently operate under larger “umbrella” clubs, such as Goizueta Finance Group and Goizueta Consulting Group. Umbrella clubs oversee their clubs’ operations and provide support in organizing joint events.

BBA Council Vice President of Clubs Alifya Valiji (19B) said all BBA clubs will now be required to provide rejected applicants with opportunities to participate, including clubs that do not currently operate under an umbrella organization. Umbrella clubs have always had open membership policies, but Krishnaswamy explained that selective clubs are now required to invite rejected applicants to the corresponding umbrella club’s events and activities.

Valiji explained that selective clubs without an umbrella, such as Emory Impact Investing Group, will not have to make a new umbrella group, but they must form a two-tiered membership structure with the second tier designed to be open for all students. Students who actively participate as general body members in open events will be given opportunities to move up and eventually receive greater responsibilities, such as investing club funds.

BBA Council began discussing the changes in Spring 2018, Valiji said. Clubs are now in a “transitional” phase where they will make plans for and begin implementing new membership structures by Spring 2019, according to Valiji.

“All the clubs that aren’t necessarily in the umbrella organization will have by next semester found a way to have a general body membership,” Valiji said. “This affects every single club at Goizueta.”

Krishnaswamy said clubs are designed to enhance students’ educations, and students should be provided with opportunities to learn in their areas of interest.

“We want to give every student the opportunity to learn from our BBA clubs,” Krishnaswamy said. “When somebody is denied from a club without any avenues to continue learning, it’s a little bit tough.”

Senior Associate Dean and Director of the BBA Program Andrea Hershatter said clubs may continue to restrict the number of students engaging in “high-stakes interactions” with “external clients and stakeholders,” but emphasized that the changes will enable new club members to gain experience.

Goizueta Women in Finance co-President Allison Zieser (19B) acknowledged that umbrellas allow more students to be involved in BBA activities.

“Knowledge is always available to students who want to be interested in finance, even if they may get declined from being in [individual clubs],” Zieser said.

Student Government Association (SGA) legislators voted on Sept. 24 to audit participation in undergraduate clubs, with the goal of adjusting the Student Activity Fee (SAF) Split based on varying participation in divisional councils. Krishnaswamy and BBA Council SGA Representative and audit committee member Geoffrey Tseng (19B) co-sponsored the legislation.

Hugh O’Neil (21C), a non-voting member of the audit committee providing statistical support, told the Wheel in October that the audit will define active “membership” in a student organization as attendance at two or more club meetings during the Fall 2018 semester or participation in at least 50 percent of general body meetings, whichever is greater.

Tseng explained that this methodology would prevent double counting for membership in regular and umbrella clubs.

“The club audit will only count students who attend 2+ meetings for the umbrella organization itself as members, regardless of whether they are in any other BBA clubs,” Tseng wrote in an Oct. 25 email to the Wheel.

Hershatter said she was confident that the changes were not made with the intention of increasing BBA club participation numbers for more funding.

“I see [the club audit and these changes] as completely separate,” Hershatter said. “This came from an entirely different place.”