By Thompson Perry

When incoming students visit the University of Louisville Web site, the first thing to greet them is the quote, “There’s something here for everyone; you just have to find it.”

In the spirit of helping individuals find their place in the sea of nearly 22,000 students, the university implemented an office for Recognized Student Organizations.

These organizations can range from groups of students with shared tastes to students who have banded together to support social causes.

“It’s really a simple process to become an RSO,” said Matt Flairty a junior political science major and chair of the Student Organizations Board.

“You can even apply [for RSO status] online; we don’t try to make people jump through hoops. Anyone can start a group. It just takes five members and a constitution. We even have a sample that can be revised as needed for individual groups.”

Flairty said new RSOs can be presented at every senate meeting, as long as a member of the group is present. “The organization will then be open to a vote. The acceptance rate is very high, once all the technicalities are straightened out.”

The RSO office is making it easy to apply for and be granted status as a recognized organization, encouraging campus students to express themselves “intellectually, spiritually, and physically” as stated on their Web site.

Although the office now finds itself in a metamorphosis, undergoing significant change and rapid expansion, it is hoped that its student-friendly nature will remain in tact, if not amplified.

“We have made a lot of changes recently,” said Sharon Mudd, RSO Program Coordinator. “A big focus has been placed on improving communication among groups.” Mudd said they recently created a listserv and a Facebook group to be more in touch with the students.

A new group that has been hard at work since its inception just three months ago has been the Colleges Against Cancer RSO. Launched by Lori Speer, a senior civil and environmental engineering major, the group has already managed to pull together an event that the American Cancer Society suggests could take eight months of planning.

The event, to take place on April 27 at 7 p.m., will be the “Relay for Life” at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.

“We’re really excited about the relay,” said Speer. “We’re encouraging anyone and everyone to come, not just U of L students; it’s open to members of the community as well.”

Speer said this event will be the first of many to come for her young RSO. “One of the requirements to have [an RSO] is that we have to hold at least three events a year. This relay will be one, and we will have others in the future.”

Speer said that the group plans to hold an event in October, celebrating Breast Awareness Month.

One of the founding members, Rebecca Mattingly, a senior civil and environmental engineering major, echoed the sentiments of Speer on the momentum from their “Relay for Life.”

“We’ll be active past [Relay for Life]; we want to raise cancer awareness year-round on campus,” Mattingly said.

“Setting up the RSO was the easy part,” Speer said, who now faces the challenges of chalking rules, event curfew, mandatory security, parking designation and stage regulations.

With this kind of support and encouragement, the RSO office is committed to fulfilling U of L’s promise of providing “something for everyone.”

Though the university Web site states that students “just have to find” their place, the RSO team is encouraging students to create their own.