Student-led clubs have gotten creative in fostering a sense of community on Hunter College campus, a major commuter school.
As the school welcomed its largest incoming freshman class in Hunter’s history in the fall of 2023, the majority of the students were commuters, according to the Student Affairs Department.
Most students traveling from their homes from all over the surrounding boroughs and beyond want to get in and out of their classes as soon as possible to make their way home, get to work, or simply because they do not want to be on campus.
“I think that the commuting aspect definitely impacts students’ commitment to clubs,” said Knitted Knockers President Yayin Ruan.
Knitted Knockers, a club that knits and crochets breast prosthetics and has partnered with local clinics to donate them to breast cancer survivors, needed to get creative to lure members.
The club’s most successful event thus far has been the scavenger hunt they held in February 2023. Ruan said that the board noticed that “students don’t really want to commit to a club unless there are constant events with food and interesting activities,” and were likely attracted to the event due to the free prizes.
This is not easy to get done as student leaders need to “jump through several hoops” to get an event done on campus, said Ruan. Student leaders may also have a hard time providing food for club members as “a lot of vendors surrounding Hunter College don’t want to work with us [because] Hunter is slow at paying them back,” said Ruan.
While clubs can help students make friends on campus, “more professional clubs or service clubs have less friendly vibes [since] students are just here for their hours,” said Ruan.
As of the spring 2024 semester, there are currently 94 active clubs according to the Office of Student Activities, or OSA. Though OSA does not track specific club membership numbers, “each club is required to maintain a minimum of 10 members,” said an OSA representative.
Cultural clubs are some of the most popular on campus and often have members in the hundreds.
The Bengali Student Organization at Hunter College has seen great success since it began in the fall of 2023. The club’s purpose is to build a community for first-generation Bangladeshi students and those who want to learn more about their culture.
The club garnered great support from the student body as they were launching with 70 to 80 attendees for small events, and 100 to 125 attendees for their larger events.
“The way that we put out events [on] social media does a great job at promoting our events,” said club vice president Sumaiya Hossain. “As well as timing because we schedule our events for when most [students] are on campus.”
Students were also drawn in out of sheer curiosity at times after just passing by since “a lot of people will go, ‘Oh, what’s going on here,’ and they’ll get curious and they want to come in,” said Hossain. “Things like music and decorations really do catch people’s eyes.”
For some, the clubs have fostered new relationships. “In my experience, they’ve been really helpful in getting me to branch out of my major,” said junior Raheem Sheikh.
Sheikh said that as a Biological Science major, he was keen to pursue his other interests, like writing about science, when looking for clubs to join. “A lot of my friends in my major aren’t really interested in it so I was really excited to find the Society of Bioethics and Medicine at Hunter and talk to people with that common interest,” said Sheikh, adding that the club has an ongoing blog.
As for what attracts Sheikh and his friends to certain events, “definitely free food helps,” he laughed. He also prefers smaller, more intimate events to take the opportunity to sit down and chat with people rather than get caught up in the hectic rush that typically occurs at larger events.
Though it can be difficult to build a community at a school like Hunter College, student leaders are up to the task.
“It’s a big school so there are a lot of options for clubs to join,” said Ruan. “If you can’t find your niche, you could also make your own club.”
