Group Recognition
1) I am hoping to start a club at MIT. What are the steps to make our club official?
To apply for recognition, your group should follow the procedure outlined here. There are two application deadlines per year, at the beginning of each semester.
2) I represent a group that already exists. Is there anything I need to do for the Group Recognition Cycle?
No; it is only for new groups applying for recognition and currently unfunded groups applying to have their status changed to funded. You will have to complete the annual spring re-recognition process, however.
3) I’m not sure I want to apply for ASA recognition, but I’d like to use the MIT name in the club.
Using the MIT name is not allowed unless the group is recognized by an MIT department or office, or by the ASA.
4) My group is currently unfunded. How can we become funded so we can apply to either the UA Finboard or GSC Funding Board?
At least one semester after your group was initially recognized, your group may use the same procedure that new groups do for recognition to apply for a status change. You should apply here, within one month of the start of the semester. When you apply, select "Change in Funding Status" as your type of application.
5) How long does the group recognition process take?
That depends. Applications are processed on a rolling basis once they are submitted during the first month of the semester (throughout September and February,) and the turnaround time on a vote can be less than a week or up to several weeks depending on the number of applications. Once the ASA decides to vote on an application, they can make one of the following decisions:
- Recognize the group as they’ve applied
- Recognize the group in a different category/capacity than they’ve applied (e.g., unfunded instead of funded)
- Not recognize the group
- Table the group’s application (in which case the ASA would get in touch with the group or appropriate MIT offices with further questions or concerns)
The ASA meets once a week, so your group’s applications can sometimes be decided within a week of meeting with us. Once the ASA makes a decision, the group will most likely be told a day or two afterward. In some cases, however, the process can take substantially longer if there are complications.
6) How do I re-recognize an old group that’s been de-recognized?
Submit a new group application like normal, following all steps and requirements, but mention in the application that this group has existed before and any benefits or resources you have because of that status. Groups that have existed before but are being re-recognized are held to the same standard as a new group in their application.
Group Resources
1) Do we have an Athena locker?
Yes! IS&T can make one for you. Use this form to request a locker after your group is recognized.
2) What is my account number?
MIT financial accounts are called "cost objects". You can find your group's cost object on Engage, by going to your group's dashboard, and selecting "Group Page". All groups have a main account, and funded groups have funding accounts. Groups may have additional accounts such as Club Sports Council accounts or endowment accounts.
3) How do I check the account balance for my group?
First, a clarification: The ASA does not provide group's accounts. Rather, that is through the Student Organizations, Leadership and Engagement Office (SOLE).
You can check the balance in Atlas. To check the main account balance, you'd use the Cumulative Account Balance Report; only use this report for your main account. To check the transactions that have been made to either the main or funding account, you'd use the Transaction Account Report over the desired time period. If you do not see your group in the dropdown list, this means that you need financial authorization. You should first make sure that you are listed as a Financial Signatory on Engage, and then fill in the "Request financial access" form on Engage.
You should direct further questions to the Student Organizations, Leadership and Engagement Office.
Emails
1) I keep getting emails from the ASA even though I am not part of any MIT student group. How do I get them to stop?
Unfortunately (with very rare exceptions, see below), we do not have the ability remove you; the recipients of the list asa-official are the officer lists of ASA-recognized groups, so if you're receiving emails mail it is because you are on some officer list with which you were once involved. If possible, you should figure out which lists you were on, and then either:
- E-mail the current officers of the club (perhaps by e-mailing the list) and ask them to take you off.
- Remove yourself from individual mailing lists. You can do this using WebMoira.
If you are still part of MIT (with web certificates) and you can't figure out which lists you are on, WebMoira's front page shows the lists you are a member of.
Exception: asa-official-listeners@ contains some non-officers-list members of asa-official@; you can see if you are on it and remove yourself using WebMoira's asa-official-listeners page.
2) We have a mailman list that is preventing our getting ASA official e-mails. How do we fix this?
When you sign into the Mailman administrative interface for your list, you should do the following:
- Under Configuration Categories, click on Privacy Options
- Under that, click on Sender filters
- Scroll down to non-member filters
- The first box says "List of non-member addresses whose postings should be automatically accepted." In that box, add: asa-exec@mit.edu
If instead you do want to accept every message from every non-member, on that same page toward the bottom, there's a line that says "Action to take for postings from non-members for which no explicit action is defined." Select "Accept" as opposed to "Hold" or "Reject."
Postering
1) For postering, does "MIT groups have priority" go so far as to mean groups can post over non-groups at will? The rules also state "Poster over non-MIT flyers if the boards are full," so does this mean anything MIT (like a class council or department or seminar) is considered a group?
MIT groups (whether ASA-recognized or academic departments or whatever) can poster over non-MIT entities (ads for restaurants and test-prep classes and such) if the boards are full, but not otherwise. All MIT entities are equivalent for the purposes of this rule. You can also poster over any group's fliers for past events or repeated / more than one per event fliers, whether they're MIT-affiliated or not.
If there are any other questions that you think should be answered here, please email asa-exec@mit.edu. Thanks!