New Organization Interest Form
If you are interested in starting a new student organization, please read the instructions carefully and complete the New Org Interest Form below. Once submitted, you will receive an email inviting you to schedule your New Organization Welcome session, which is required in order to receive authorization for the creation of the organization. You will attend a session with a staff member who will talk through the registration steps and answer questions you have if the organization is approved.
Please review the following criteria and procedures prior to submitting the Interest Form:
Only current Ohio State students may submit the New Org Interest Form. Community members, alumni, or staff/faculty may be involved with the organization, but are not permitted to drive the registration process.
The New Org Interest Form will close 2 weeks prior to the registration deadline. The registration deadline for fall is October 30 and for spring is April 15. This means that the form will close on October 16 and April 1, respectively. The form will open 2 weeks prior to the registration window opening on August 1 and January 18, respectively. New Org Interest Forms will not be accepted outside of these windows: August 1-October 16 for fall and January 18-April 1 for spring.
The New Org Interest Form must be submitted in the semester you intend to launch the organization. You will need to submit the form again in the future if you choose to delay the launch of the organization and do not attend your New Org Welcome Meeting. There is not a penalty to submitting multiple Interest Forms.
If multiple students submit New Org Interest Forms for the same concept, the student who attends the New Org Welcome Meeting and initiates the organization first will take precedent regardless of form submission order in that semester. Students with the same organization idea will be encouraged to work together to launch the organization.
All newly proposed organizations need to be unique from any other registered organization. If the proposed organization duplicates or closely aligns with another existing organization's purpose, the organization will not be approved. You may adapt the proposed organization idea and resubmit the Interest Form or merge efforts with an existing group. Acceptable variations of similar organizations are competitive/non-competitive, chapter-based organizations, undergraduate/graduate/professional, and major-specific groups. Differences between groups that are not distinct enough to be approved are selective/non-selective, dues/no dues, membership size, governance model, etc. Please refer to the Student Organization Directory to make sure a group similar to your organization does not already exist. Search for similar phrases and keywords that pertain to your group. There is a chance that the organization you are interested in has already existed on our campus at one point and has been archived after inactivity. You will still need to follow the new organization process in this case.
No organization, new or existing, can discriminate for any reason in their membership or activities on the basis of age, ancestry, color, disability, gender identity or expression, genetic information, HIV/AIDS status, military status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, protected veteran status or any other basis in accordance with Student Organization Registration and Funding Guidelines. Organizations may not require students be of a specific race, age, sexual orientation, or any other basis referred to in the above statement. If your proposed organization is an identity-based group, it will still need to have an open membership.
Please be aware that student organizations must adhere to The Ohio State University’s branding policies and guidelines. If you would like to refer to the university in your organization’s name, it must be at the end of the name and it must be listed as Org Name at The Ohio State University" or "Org Name at Ohio State." Student organizations may not use "OSU." Please visit https://brand.osu.edu for more information and to submit branding requests.
Email csls@osu.edu with questions or for additional support.
