My, what a queer power struggle

I know I said I was going to split off the edu talk from my usual blatherings and gadget-droolings but I haven't had time to set up the second blog yet and I have to type this out and oh my gawd I need to take a breath.
aaaahhhhh

I recently agreed to take on the role of advisor for a campus club. Sure, I thought, not a lot of time is required and I might get a cool t-shirt out of the deal (in my head that made sense). Honestly, I was looking forward to working with students in an alternate capacity besides "that math teacher with the awesome sense of fashion." OK, maybe just the first part of that statement can be attributed to the students.

Anyway, the club met for the first time today and is immediately—in my eyes—threatened by an outside force. This individual is not a student at the school but said she is willing to "just sign up for a credit in photoshop or something" so she could officially join the club. I pointed out that the campus by-laws clearly state that at least 8 full-time students—defined as a minimum of 10 credit hours—must be on the club roster to be recognized as an official club and thus be entitled to all the rights and privileges and ASC funding therein. The Little Leader stated that as long as ASC approved the group's mission statement and group-specific by-laws, the club could be opened to non-students. All the voices in my head screamed at once, "Not a good idea!!" Who is this woman?

When the Little Leader of this merry group said she thought going through the paperwork was worth it so that the student government (ASC) would shower us with coinage, The Interloper immediately launched into an anecdote about how "all you gotta do is have a barbecue and sell hot dogs and sodas and people line up, see? What you do is you go to Costco and you get a cooler and I'll tell you when I did this before when I was in school in California we ran out of hot dogs and there I was with a megaphone yelling "Get your pre-circumcised hotdogs here" and people just loved it and we made a kill-"

"If you read the campus by-laws," I calmly but oh so firmly interjected, "they clearly state that selling food is restricted to pre-packaged food items."

"You mean you can't have a hot dog?"

Everyone else around the table answered for me. These little pups had done their homework and had an inkling of what they had gotten into. Who is this person?

Little Leader quietly chimed in with, "What do we need the money for? What do we want this group to be?" I could have high-fived her! Since this was the very first meeting, the students decided to go around and mention what they thought the group could become, what they envision they would be walking into when they scheduled the meeting on their calendars. This was great right up until The Interloper began yet another monologue about how she did it years ago and all the answers she has and how her heart goes out to other students who—

Her babbling was cut off when three students left to go to work or pick up their kids. Thankgawd for interruptions.

Turns out that the very student who is behind trying to get this club off the ground befriended this woman through an off-campus organization. While there may be some experience there worth soliciting in little bits and bites, this woman seems to want to launch this club to the moon and be the captain of the ship.

I am quite aware that yet another by-law says the club needs to work to improve or educate the campus or community in some way related to the club's mission in order to retain their standing (and funding). For instance, the dance squad which traipses out their belly-dancing gyrations anytime the ref blows his whistle and the basketball players leave the court, recently held a kids' dance clinic for a mere three-hours. That activity will probably pay for their lack–of–uniforms next year. (No, I am not their choreographer). However, working within the community does not mean that the community can or should join the club. And have I mentioned that this woman is older than me by about a decade? And I'm no spring chicken.

So I find myself in the dicey position of asking this woman to back off and allow the students to have their own experiences through this club rather than relive hers and do it in such a way as to not alienate the student leader who invited her in the first place.

All I wanted was a t-shirt.