A new networking program, YouDo@BU, will make the process of running a club easier to manage and more transparent, Student Activities Office officials said.’
YouDo@BU is powered by CollegiateLink, which serves close to 60 universities. Though the program was launched at BU last spring, the SAO initially introduced only a few clubs to insure the software was running properly, SAO Assistant Director Jeff Murphy said. Currently, the site hosts close to 500 organizations.
SAO’s goal is to help club leaders who often find themselves tangled up in red tape when trying to work with the school to organize events.
‘There was just a lot excessive overlap where you had to fill out forms continuously sometimes twice for the same thing,’ International Affairs Association President Frank Pobutkiewicz said.
Pobutkiewicz, a College of Arts and Sciences and School of Management senior, said he is pleased with the way YouDo@BU has helped his club manage affairs with the school.
‘The process of both running an organization on campus as well as planning events can be a bit overwhelming,’ Murphy said. ‘We’re trying to make that whole process easier, so that’s where this software package comes into play’
Murphy said SAO hopes YouDo@BU will foster communication and outreach. The site has a flyer board for events, discussion boards and surveys.
‘Finding your way at BU can be a challenge,’ Murphy said. ‘And this is one more tool that students will have in their tool kit of connecting with each other. Groups will have the ability to allow people to join their organization just by clicking a button.’
Clubs can then track their membership progress, view pie charts with members’ gender, affiliation and year of graduation and graph events.
‘It’s really helpful for the group to look back and say, ‘OK well this year we’ve done this event on this date and this is where it was held and it was this amount of time,” Pobutkiewicz said.
But student organization leaders said YouDo@BU still falls short in some ways.
‘While we’ve been compliant with the university by filling out all our YouDo information, we don’t use it as much as we use Facebook,’ Boston Salsa University President Nadia Ouhib said.
Because her organization reaches out to the Salsa community in greater Boston, relying on YouDo@BU limits her ability to advertise, Ouhib, a College of Engineering junior, said.
But Pobutkiewicz said the fiscal management portion of the site is one of its best features. Previously, students had to request an account ledger from a software package in the SAO office.
‘It wasn’t quite as transparent and groups had a much harder time being able to view some of their account statements,’ Murphy said.
Despite these improvements, students still cannot make financial requests online because BU has a policy against the PayPal system CollegiateLink uses, Murphy said.
However, Murphy said he hopes students will be able to make these requests by next January or February. He said he is also exploring ways to allow students to host elections online.
‘It’s made life a lot easier,’ Pobutkiewicz said. ‘I don’t think its reached its full potential which is the most exciting part.’
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