Drake’s semesterly Involvement Fair draws students across disciplines, years and interests, making it a go-to recruitment event for Drake’s Registered Student Organizations. At the fair, student organizations set up booths and tri-folds to entice students to join their group. This fall, some RSO presidents worried that they would see a drop in Involvement Fair attendance due to Labor Day Weekend, and others expressed discontent or excitement about the first-come-first-serve table setup.
Most presidents who filled out last spring’s RSO audit received an email from Director of Student Life Isaac Newsome on Aug. 19 about the President’s Summit and Involvement Fair. During the Aug. 30 President’s Summit, student leaders learned they wouldn’t be assigned tables as they were in previous years.
“It was pretty chill finding a spot, but the lack of organization to do that, like if people are interested in similar things, like fine arts versus publications, it’d be easy to be like, ‘All the fine arts organizations are this way. All the publication ones are this way,’” said junior Anna Sturgis, the president of the Visual Arts Association at Drake. “I feel like it didn’t make sense to just be a free-for-all.”
Zach Melahoures, the president of Drake’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity, said he secured a prime spot right outside of Parents Hall by arriving 15 minutes early. This year’s system therefore worked better for Habitat for Humanity.
“[In past years], if I were to get there on time – even if I got there early – I’d be put in this spot in Parents Hall kind of off to the corner, and then placed with other student organizations who aren’t even related to us,” Melahoures said.
Junior Ty Walls, the Coalition of Black Students president, arrived at the fair several hours early and set up CBS’s table near the stairs as well.
“If you really care about your organization, you’re going to be there on time. You’re going to get a good table,” Walls said. “Sometimes organizations are pretty small, so it might be a little harder for people at times, but I feel like there’s really no bad spot because everybody’s always walking around.”
When asked why organizations selected their own tables this year and not in years past, Newsome said, “It really just comes down to my capacity and my time.” Newsome has operated as a one-person team since September 2023 when the then-coordinator of Registered Student Organizations, Carter Rush left Drake for a position at the University of Minnesota Law School. Drake administration decided not to fill Rush’s position.
Student organizations did not receive information about the President’s Summit and the Involvement fair until Aug. 19, but Walls reached out to Associate Dean of Students Lynne Cornelius over the summer and received tentative dates for these events.
“I just wanted to know because, like I said, my board is fairly new, so the sooner I knew, the more that they could be prepared with whatever they have going on with work or school,” Walls said.
Sturgis does not think she had enough notice about the President’s Summit and the Involvement Fair. Although VAAD had previously existed on campus, it hadn’t been active for years. Since her first year at Drake, Sturgis has been growing the organization, but VAAD still has a small membership.
“The fact that they gave us like a week to prepare because what about orgs that don’t have a pre-made trifold or anything?” Sturgis said. “I did not think that was very fair, especially to new clubs.”
Melahoures likewise noted he received less communication about the Involvement Fair than in years past.
“I don’t want to say [communication] was lacking, but there wasn’t as much,” Melahoures said. “I knew where I needed to be at what time, and that was fine. I didn’t know that there’d be no sign-ups or didn’t know that there would be any sort of arrangements. I thought we would have a spot for us to go to.”
Newsome said he prefers to hold the Involvement Fair in the first two weeks of the semester. Usually, the President’s Summit is on a Tuesday and the Involvement Fair is on a Thursday. This year, Newsome said he decided to hold the summit and fair on Wednesday and Friday, respectively, due to prior bookings.
“I couldn’t use the space that Tuesday because it was being used – Parents Hall. So that’s why I did [the summit] on Wednesday, and I need a day in between [the summit and the fair],” Newsome said. “So I could have pushed back to the next week, but I didn’t really want to between [sorority and fraternity recruitment] and I just wanted to knock it out.”
While the fair’s timing was not ideal, Walls understands that was just how the fair fell this year.
“Obviously I wish it wasn’t during Labor Day weekend, but the sooner we have it, the sooner that all the organizations can actually do stuff,” Walls said.
According to Sturgis, around 40-60 students filled out VAAD’s interest form at the Involvement Fair last year, but only around 20-30 students did this year. However, the University does not track overall attendance at the fair.
“I was pleased with [the fair turnout]. I was a little nervous with it being a long weekend, but it was packed, so it didn’t seem like that impeded too much with it,” Newsome said.
*At least one student organization that participated in the audit reported that they did not receive Newsome’s email.
