New society promotes involvement
Campus Times
March 19, 1999
A new club has enriched the variety of organizations at the University
of La Verne. The Society of Leaders' (SOL) purpose is to bring clubs together
and open the school up to the outside community.
SOL was founded to "promote diversity and educate people about
different cultures," said sophomore Courtney Dade, president of the
society.
Dade initiated the club with her roommate, Isaura Alarcón, also
a sophomore.
The idea came up last semester, and the club was admitted on Nov. 19
with 30 members who were "mostly people from my classes," said
Alarcón.
Dade and Alarcón do not have an elitist understanding of leadership.
SOL is open to anybody and "most of the members are not leaders,"
said Dade. Because there are many leaders within other clubs, SOL tries
to reach these organizations.
"We are involved with the other clubs and try to link them together.
That's the way we understand us as leaders," she said.
SOL is especially concerned with opening up cultural clubs on campus
such as the Latino Student Forum (LSF) or the Afrikan-American Student Alliance
(AASA) to members with different backgrounds.
Even if these organizations are open to members of all races, Dade and
Alarcón discovered a recent movement of delimitation which might
intimidate students from participating. This is also the reason why Dade
and Alarcón named the organization Society of Leaders.
"We don't want to use multicultural to scare off people,"
said Dade. "We want the members from these clubs to come to our club."
She emphasized that an organization like AASA should inform not only African
Americans about their cultures.
Still, there is no rivalry between SOL and other clubs. Dade said the
clubs see that SOL wants to help, not to interfere.
The first big event co-organized by SOL is this week's multicultural
fair. Dade and Alarcón wanted to plan the festival together with
the peace fair. Along with the International Students Organization (ISO),
SOL was in charge of the program Monday and Tuesday.
SOL made the initial connection to all clubs on campus and asked for
participation and support. For the end of this semester, the club is planning
a softball tournament in which clubs may compete against each other.
Alarcón is also thinking about organizing a festival for the
University and its neighbors "where we close up the streets and have
a party."
Therefore, SOL already made relationships with the fire and police departments
on Third Street. These two institutions were supposed to be represented
with a booth at the multicultural fair, but "this didn't work out,"
said Alarcón.
SOL meets every other Wednesday at noon either in the law library or
in the West Dining Room. For further information, call Dade or Alarcón
at 392-6361.
