Most college and university campuses offer students plenty of social, political, academic, religious, and just plain fun campus organizations. Some schools, though, offer more unique choices than others. Here are some of the more student clubs, activities, and organizations available on college campuses.
The Carleton College Mustache Club
Located in Northfield, Minnesota, Carleton has a reputation for attracting students who are very smart and unusually whimsical. Thus, this offbeat organization – for students who have a mustache, or are willing to don a fake one periodically – fit right in. Women are invited to join if they are willing to shave all of their faces except for the upper lip area. The group raises money for a domestic abuse shelter by selling T-shirts and pins.
University of Florida Rock-Paper-Scissors Club
Yes, there's an actual club devoted to this "sport" – along with a worldwide organization! Other schools, like Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI, have also jumped onto this exciting bandwagon with their Rock-Paper-Scissors Championship, complete with cash prizes. What's next – Rock-Paper-Scissors on ESPN?
The University of Minnesota Campus People Watchers
There are over 50,000 people wandering around the University of Minnesota, so if you're really into observing the idiosyncrasies of the human race – or really bored – here's the perfect group. According to the University of Minnesota's website, the Campus People Watchers group "is a non-creepy organization for those who are into the social, psychological, and analytical aspects of people watching."
The Harvard Tiddlywinks Society
Tiddlywinks -– you know, that game where four players pop around little plastic discs to try to make them land on one another? Laughable as this may sound to some, there's something charming about students playing a game typically enjoyed by 80-year-old men while so many of their friends are blowing things on the latest game console.
Students for an Orwellian Society
This organization claims (satirically, one hopes) to support the type of society that was portrayed in George Orwell's classic 1984, where the totalitarian government exercises mind control, particularly through the use of doublespeak and manipulation of the language. The group's website offers lots of contemporary examples that they claim are illustrations of this doublespeak.
Students Against Hippies in Trees
This unique club formed in 2006 on Facebook in response to University of California at Berkeley students who were camping out in trees to protest the building of an athletic center, which would have required removal of the trees.
Start Your Own Unique Club!
Browse through the student activities section on any college or university website, and few of the offerings differ very much from campus to campus. If you're bored with the available student activities, make up your own, gather a group of interested students, and apply to the campus activities board to become an official organization.
Naomi Rockler-Gladen - Instructional designer and freelance writer, Naomi Rockler-Gladen writes some of Suite101's most read work.
