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Starting
a Campus Pagan Group |
You're probably wondering how to get people together in the first place. Sparking some interest can be hard, especially on a religious topic. If you go to a Bible college, for example, chances of finding people of like mind may be difficult by just talking to your fellow students. First check your Student Union or Student Council to see if there are any big "group fairs" in which different student groups can set up a table and have people sign up for your group. My school has two Activities Fairs per year, one in the early Fall and the other in the early Spring semesters. We're assigned a table and hand out informational flyers. We also have a sign-up sheet in which people can give us their e-mail addresses. To get people to come to our booth, we hold Tarot readings. Sometimes when you hit a reading right on target, the person will sign up, no questions asked! They may then come to the meetings just to have their Tarot read again and again, but if it keeps them coming, they may first learn a thing or two about Paganism.
If your chances of starting a group based on religion are tough, try starting a reading group. Choose a benign book such as Starhawk's "The Spiral Dance" and advertise a discussion on it. People who know Paganism will have probably heard of the book, so it will catch their attention, yet keep those who are oblivious away from your group. Reading groups may even progress to something along the lines of a small coven, as it happened to Starhawk, herself.
Once you know you have some interest in an actual group, you may then have to go to your Student Government to make your group official. Check all the requirements to begin a group: Do you need a faculty advisor? Do you need proof of membership or interest? Do you need to have a "meeting plan" to prove that your group will be active? There should be some guidelines to forming a student group. Some of those guidelines may also include forming a group charter or constitution, election plans for a leader of the group, impeachment plans for a leader of the group, meeting guidelines, and other rules and regulations for your group.
When you form your group, you should also remain open to the rest of the student body. Depending on your campus, you may want to have meetings out in the open because some people may get nervous about your group being behind doors. On other campuses, you may have to be behind doors in an obscure meeting place because people may fear you being out in the open. Go figure! the important part is to make sure your group is not hostile to anyone or any other group!
Finally, before you go through the entire process of creating a student group, check your Student Activities Council or similar organization to see if a Pagan group already exists/existed and is either "underground" or disappeared due to lack of members. You may be able to revitalize that group and it can save you a lot of time in establishing a new group.
Once you are established, you should try advertising for your group. Click to continue and find some ideas for advertisements, or back to the main menu.
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WICCA INFORMATION
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Beginning a student group? You may find some help in these books:
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