Pitch Perfect
If tradition isn’t working, it’s time to change things up
It’s easy to stick with what your club has done in the past. Sometimes it’s great because it saves time and effort to recycle or reuse the work of past student leaders, but if you can tell it’s not working, it’s time to put on the thinking cap and try new things.
The Barden Bellas from Pitch Perfect is a great example of a club that needs a fresh take. In the opening scene, the Barden Bellas are performing at an acapella competition. The judges make snide comments about it being a snooze fest – or at least until the vomit disaster that happened on stage.
The next year, Chloe and Aubrey become the new leaders for the Barden Bellas after the seniors graduate. They recruit a new diverse group of girls and train them on all old songs and dances.
After a failed out-of-sync gig at a fraternity soiree and a couple of mediocre performances at competitions, it becomes clear that this year’s Barden Bellas are very different from the previous Barden Bellas.
This leads the Bellas to release some pent-up frustrations, do some group soul searching, and experiment with new music. By changing the dynamic of their group, the Bellas have an electrifying performance at the Finals featuring remixed music and looks.
Use this movie to reflect back on your own club experiences. Does the atmosphere feel stale? You and your colleagues may need to consider your own remix on the group.
Dear White People (The Netflix Series)
People are complex with unique and valid perspectives that can only be explored with open dialogue and an open mind.
College campus hosts a diverse population of students with varied backgrounds. This is why you can find student organizations on campus for every political view, religion, interest, culture, to nationality.
Running a student club may seem simple, but you’re going to have members and officers that think and act very differently than yourself. It’s important to foster a good culture within your group to guarantee everyone is heard and their opinion is accounted for.
Differences of perspectives is a common theme throughout Dear White People. While the majority of the main cast share the experience of being a minority at their university, their perspectives wildly differ based on their upbringing, experience, culture, and knowledge.
Although these students gather in complementary student organizations, they often have differing opinions on issues and each other. This leads to a much livelier debate on how to deal with social issues on campus.
For example, when the school journalist, Lionel, gets an inside tip of a black face party happening on campus, he and his acquaintances go to break up the party. During the party and after, we get to hear different characters’ perspectives on the situation.
Coco gives a jaded speech to Sam’s documentary camera about how abruptly ending the party will have no grand effect on the attendees of the party who view their culture as just a game of dress-up. Troy’s friends dismiss Sam and Lionel’s posse for inciting a riot at the party while commending Troy for getting the cops involved and bringing a real stop to the party.
Throughout the series, we see different views on topics as the students grapple with racism, colorism, identity, sexuality, police violence, and more. Witty banter and debating is a common element to the series that cycles through controversial takes at lightning speeds.
While students’ argumentative proposals or rebuttals can come across as heated or condescending at times, the students typically hear the other person’s side out before responding no matter how different that point of view may be.
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The debates rarely turn into shouting matches and when they do, Dear White People shows how nothing productive comes from a one-sided argument.
Within your own student group, practice and implement a process to get everyone’s opinion about future plans. Design events and discussions to be interactive and as President or the presiding officer over a meeting, learn to manage people’s debates to keep them productive.
Gilmore Girls
There is no reason to run your student Organization with an iron fist
As the head of the student organization, it can be easy to get carried away. If you have a habit of only demanding perfection at any cost, you may be sacrificing the mental health of your fellow cohorts.
In season 6 of the Gilmore girls, Paris Geller becomes the editor for the Yale Daily news. Off the bat, Paris is barking orders and strict rules at the student journalists.
Her leadership style could be defined as totalitarianism, even at one point treating her colleagues as commodities by giving them numbers instead of names to go by and double booking them on assignments so that she has more options to choose from.
In later episodes, the student journalists can be seen at a local pub having a venting session about their editor. They’re all stressed out from being overworked and having their articles being completely rewritten by Paris to the point of being unrecognizable.
While the student journalists’ meeting was initially to discuss voting Paris out of the position, later they just all quit the Newspaper right before the deadline of an issue. Rory has to be the only adult by telling Paris the culture of the Yale News Paper isn’t working and breaks the news of Paris’s demotion lightly.
This behavior can be seen many times outside of the world of the Gilmore Girls. One of the most viral instances was back in 2013, when an executive board member of Delta Gamma sorority at the University of Maryland sent a reprimanding expletive-filled email containing harsh personal criticisms to all the members.
While you may feel pressure to be a good leader and feel a part of a great student organization, you have to remember that all the members and officers are participating voluntarily.
And while rules are necessary to have in place, it’s best to keep in mind that everyone is also juggling school, personal lives, and possibly jobs. Don’t forget to apply some empathy along with your passion. Looking back on your time, you’ll want to remember having a good time with an awesome group of your peers.
Join the Conversation:
What do you think of these shows? Do these lessons relate to your experiences running a student club? Comment below with your stories!
