In order to start a Registered Student Organization, one needs a group of at least eight interested students. They then petition the SGA for recognition. Most RSOs are funded from the activity fee that all students pay. In recent years, the fee has been about $81. Every semester, the SGA reviews RSOs, and the RSOs that have not enough members are considered inactive and don't receive funding. Club Sports are considered RSOs by UMass Amherst.
Recently, on May 6 of 2008, the Center for Student Development at UMass hosted The Sammies for the second time. The Sammies is an awards show designed to allow Registered Student Organizations to give awards to other RSOs. Over fifty different awards were presented to student leaders in more than twenty different categories.
Student Government
The Student Government Association (SGA) is the undergraduate student governmental body at UMass Amherst. It provides funding for the many registered student organizations (RSOs) and agencies, some of which include the Student Legal Services Office (SLSO) and the Student Center for Educational Research and Advocacy (SCERA). The Student Government Association will also makes recommendations regarding Administration policy and they also advocate for undergraduate students to the Administration, non-student organizations, and local and state government.
The Student Government Association at UMass Amherst has 3 different branches: the President and Executive Cabinet, the Undergraduate Student Senate, and the Student Judiciar
y.
Marching Band
In all of New England, UMass has one of the largest marching bands. There marching band has over 360 members and they frequently play at UMass football games. In 1998, under leadership from George N. Parks, the band won the Sudler Trophy for excellence.
Fraternities and Sororities
There are 4 councils that organize the fraternities and sororities of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Those 4 councils are IFC, NPC, NPHC, and the MGC. Many of the Greek Life organizations had houses that students lived in on North Pleasant Street, but Alpha Tau Gamma, who owned the property at the time, did not renew the leases. The houses on that street were known at UMass as frat row, but most of the houses were out of code. The land was then sold to UMass. Currently many frats and sororities still live on "Frat Row" at UMass including Sigma Delta Tau, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Pi Kappa Alpha, Iota Gamma Upsilon, Phi Sigma Kappa, and Theta Chi. There are also other areas around UMass where other frat and sorority houses are situated. There are several frat, sororities and organizations that do not live in Greek Life houses including Pi Kappa Phi, Alpha Epsilon Phi, and the NPHC, and the MGC fraternities and sororities. The Greek Life community at UMass has a lot of annual traditions. Some of them include UDance, the Relay for Life, and Greek Week which happens every year.
The Daily Collegian
The college newspaper of the University of Massachusetts Amherst is called The Daily Collegian. The Daily Collegian is a student operated newspaper and it is published Monday through Friday while University of Massachusetts' is in session. The Daily Collegian is independently funded, which means it operates from advertising revenue. The paper was founded in 1890, and it began as a paper called Aggie Life. In 1901 it became the College Signal, and then in 1914 it became the Weekly Collegian. In 1956 it was then called the Tri-Weekly Collegian. Since 1967 it has been published daily and called The Daily Collegian.
SyllabusCentral at University of Massachusetts Amherst was founded by Andrew Nadeau and Hagea Silviu in June of 2008. Please join SyllabusCentral.com by going to our website at Colleges in Massachusetts.
