[buug] Reviving CalLUG

[Paul Ivanov]

Rick Moen, on 2011-04-19 14:00,  wrote:
> I gather from the announcement that you would write to CalMail Staff
> <consult at berkeley.edu>, to step up and take over as listadmin.

done.
 
> We can and should talk about what's required to revive CalLUG.  I
> watched the LUG die, get revived, and die a second time, so I think I
> know the major pitfalls and can help you avoid them.  I've been thinking
> of adding a section to the Linux User Group HOWTO[1] about the
> particular problems of college LUGs.  Here's the short version:
> 
> 1.  Maintaining accreditation.  In CalLUG's case, that would be through 
> ASUC.  Accredited groups get access to Internet server resources, 
> publicity, use of rooms, right to post flyers, sometimes modest funding, 
> etc.  But you have to file timely paperwork.  Failure to do those
> filings killed CCSF LUG.

I'm familiar with these procedures, having helped run student
clubs at UC Berkeley in the past. There's a threshold of
needing four people to be Student Signatories, which are
currently enrolled students who take and pass an online
orientation quiz about rules and policies related to running a
club on campus.

Also, looking at the website for starting a club - it looks like it
may have to be renamed, due to an apparently *ridiculous* policy:

------
    Organization names must be in compliance with the Berkeley Campus
    Regulations and the Office of Marketing and Business Outreach
    policies.
    
    The following names and corresponding variations may not be used
    in your student group name:
    
        * UC Berkeley
        * California
        * Cal
        * UC
        * UCB
    
    ‘Berkeley’ can be used in your student group name only if it is
    used as a reference to geographic location, such as:
    
        * at Berkeley
        * of Berkeley
------

Though they do mention that groups which started before this
policy was in place are allowed to keep their name.  Any students
out there can click on "Become A Signatory" here:
http://campuslife.berkeley.edu/orgs/manage

select these two groups:
* Cal Linux User Group 
    - The name of the group has not yet been approved.
    - The constitution for the group has not yet been approved. 
* GNU/Linux User Group at Cal 
    - The constitution for the group has not yet been approved.

Seems like the second name, since it's been approved, might be
the path of least resistance.

I haven't been to one of their Sunday meetings, but I think there are
some UCB students active on the BerkeleyLUG, so maybe I'll shoot
an email that way (unless they're also on this list, please do
chime in).

The hosting resources available to official student organizations
(clubs) is itself provided by a student org: the Open Computing
Facillity (OCF). There's a good chance that some OCF members
would also be interested in reviving CalLUG. Same goes for the
Computer Science undergraduate and graduate associations.
 
> 2.  Continuity, especially over the summer break.  By that, I mean two
> things:  CalLUG kept having a syndrome where the officers would get too
> busy in May/June preparing for finals, nobody would have time to make
> arrangements to ensure out-of-band means of communication in case the
> CalLUG server went down, and nobody would have time to ensure
> replacements for officers being graduated.  Some combination of those
> two problems seems to have killed CalLUG, both times.

As a grad student, I'm still around during the summers, so that
should help. But also, as a grad student, I hope to not stay here
indefinitely, and would only want to invest time in a club that
remains active beyond my time here, so year-to-year continuity
would be a particularly important for me.

best,
-- 
Paul Ivanov
http://pirsquared.org | GPG/PGP key id: 0x0F3E28F7
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