Recent problems with clubs regarding tracking points and lacking participation have spurred several changes in ASB Club Policy to be implemented next year. ASB allows for a wide array of clubs to be formed at Irvington, to ensure all students can meet new people, learn new things, and engage in activities they’re interested in. ASB’s official club roster currently has 75 official clubs registered. However, with clubs struggling to meet point requirements and to follow ASB guideline, several changes are in place for next year.

The first change will be the mandatory reapplication process for clubs. This year, few clubs gained the necessary points needed to meet the rollover requirement, so ASB decided to abolish that system for now in favor of having each club submit new applications for their places. This change is a response to clubs not being active and up-to-date in maintaining their points online, leaving ASB without an effective way to determine how many points clubs had actually acquired.

“It was really hard and tedious for the club commissioners to keep track of points,” said 2017-18 Club Commissioner Kareena Wu. “And it wasn’t enough of an incentive for the clubs by just having points”.

Seeing as the previously utilized point system didn’t prove effective enough in keeping clubs engaged and participating, ASB will be further adding a new 3 Strike System to their policy.

“We’re definitely going to be a lot more strict,” Wu said. “If a club doesn’t meet a deadline, we won’t be lenient about it and they will just have to face the consequences. Instead of the points system, we are implementing a three strike policy, and it’s just so we can help the clubs work with us better.”

The 3 Strikes Policy can be broken down into first a written warning and possibly a frozen bank account, followed by a training session and discussion with officers combined with the earlier repercussions upon a second warning, and a third strike resulting in the termination of a club for the remainder of the year and a loss of all club funds to the general ASB account. Upon receiving each strike, club officials would need to pass tests and discuss their issues with Club Commissioners Kareena Wu and Alvina Wu as to why their club is having such poor performance.

“For the first strike, if a club violates a rule then they’ll be given a written warning, and their club account (their money) will be frozen until all the officers passes a test,” sad Wu. “For the second violation, the club account would be frozen again and all officers must basically attend a training with the club commissioners and discuss how they can improve their club so they aren’t breaking violations. At the third strike, the club is just terminated for the rest of the year and their money will be transferred to the general ASB account”.

ASB will also be introducing and encouraging the usage of a new app to make recording points easier for clubs. Through Five Star App, club secretaries will be trained on how to use a specialized code to enter meeting records and other activities for points. The app will hopefully make the formerly messy process of organizing club points easier on both clubs and ASB, as well as seeing which clubs are staying active.

“This test isn’t to intimidate the clubs in any way,” Wu said. “It’s just so that [club leadership] learns the ASB rules through this test [so they do longer violate them]”.

ASB is hopeful for the positive effects these changes will have next year. 2016-2017 Club Commissioner senior Calvin Tam said, “The changes being made will probably help promote the overall image that the future ASB class is trying to create.”