One of the first steps to take is to find out what your school requires in order to set up an officially recognized club. Contact the student affairs office at your school and find out what is required.

While it is possible to have a club without official recognition, the one thing you can’t do without is club members. Do you know of any others on your campus who have expressed interest in Ayn Rand? When you fill out the Club Start Form, ARI will search its database and let you know if there are others at your school or in your area who’ve expressed interest in a club.

Not sure whether to start a club?

Don’t feel that you must be an expert on Objectivism in order to start a club. Students who start Objectivist clubs are in the process of learning about Objectivism themselves. Don’t feel that you must be able to answer all questions and objections from other students or from faculty members. Clubs are a forum for learning about Objectivism, not teaching it.

Are you unsure that there is sufficient interest at your school to make an ongoing club possible? One way to "test the waters" is by putting up "teaser" posters, with provocative quotes from Ayn Rand and with your name and contact information at the bottom. ARI has several posters of this kind available, which we can customize to your needs. This allows you to locate other students who might be interested in a club without having to commit to anything or having to plan an organizational meeting. As an added benefit, you’ll be exposing Ayn Rand’s name and ideas to students who may not have ever heard of Objectivism.

Don’t feel that you must commit to a full-blown club. Do what you are selfishly motivated to do, given your time and circumstances. Even if you simply establish an informal group of several students who meet somewhat regularly to discuss Objectivism, you will have created a value.

Why you should obtain official recognition from your school

You will be able to use campus facilities. (Most schools restrict their facilities to recognized groups. Many schools which do will allow you to use campus facilities if you are in the process of completing your paperwork.) Students are much more likely to attend a club which holds its meetings on campus.

You will be able to put up posters. (Posters of non-recognized groups are removed by most schools.)

You will gain members who see your club listed in school publications (print and/or Web), or who call the school looking for information about an Objectivist club.

You will be eligible for funding from your school. Every dollar you obtain from your school instead of from ARI is one more dollar ARI has available to spend advancing Objectivism.

What schools commonly require for official recognition

Club constitution and/or statement of purpose. See our sample statement of purpose and a sample constitution.

Faculty advisor.

Acquiring an advisor is not as difficult as it may sound. Typically, the position is a formality, the advisor is not expected to be involved with the club, and his signature merely indicates that he believes that the club is a legitimate student activity.

List of students.

Finding students interested in your club is something you want to do anyway. If you have problems finding enough names, approach dorm mates or classmates. These "members" are not required to attend a meeting; their signature indicates that they think your club should exist and that they might be interested in attending a meeting sometime.

Choosing a name for your club.

We recommend "[Name of School] Objectivist Club." Also possible are "Students of Objectivism" and "Objectivism Study Group," but the advantage to "Objectivist Club" is that it’s shorter and can therefore appear in larger print on your posters.

Planning your first meeting.

For your first meeting, we recommend that you show our video "An Introduction to Objectivism" by Leonard Peikoff (45 min. + 35 min. Q&A), and follow it with a discussion. This takes the task of explaining Objectivist principles off your shoulders and puts it in the hands of an expert, and also provides a basis for discussion afterwards.

Investigate room availabilities on campus.

Choose a day and time that is convenient for many students. Fridays are bad. Make sure all of your fellow organizers can make it. Choose a building that is well known to the students. Also investigate renting a TV and VCR, and make sure the room you schedule is in a building where a TV and VCR are available.

Publicizing your first meeting.

Publicity is a fundamental purpose of forming a club, not just a means to an end. By publicizing your first meeting (and all of your public meetings), you will:

Find other students who are interested in Objectivism. There are such students on every campus—beyond the names you receive from us. Some of them will see your publicity for your first meeting. Others won’t, but you can find them by continuing to publicize your club.

Reach many students who have heard something about Ayn Rand and who might be curious about finding out what Ayn Rand and Objectivism are about.

Inform other students and faculty members that Objectivism exists, and give them an idea of what Objectivism stands for. Many people don’t decide to investigate Objectivism until they have heard about it a number of times. Your club is the perfect vehicle for making them aware of Objectivism—which may also result in their mentioning it to another student, or referring to it in an item in a student publication.

Ways to publicize your club

Poster campus.

This is the most effective way to reach students, and also the most economical. Inundate the campus with posters announcing your club and meeting. The best way to reach people’s attention with your posters is to include the words "Ayn Rand" in large, bold print. As part of our first-meeting kit, we will provide you with professional quality posters, in the name of your club, announcing your meeting.

Set up a table on campus.

Most campuses have places where clubs set up tables or booths. Your club will seem more real to students if they actually see club organizers manning a table. You will be there to answer their questions and distribute Objectivist pamphlets and flyers provided by ARI. Ideally, you will want a flyer at the table announcing your first meeting. Make sure to have sign-up sheets in order to start a mailing list. (Important note: At the beginning of the school year, most schools have a student activities fair during orientation or registration. You can make a substantial impact at such a fair, and collect many names of interested students for your mailing list, so this is an opportunity not to be missed. Contact the student activities office and reserve a space at the fair. You may be able to do this even if you do not yet have official recognition from the school. Also, shortly before the school year starts, many schools provide freshmen with a packet that includes information about student organizations. Find out if you can include a flyer or notice in such a packet.)

Take advantage of calendars of events on your campus.

Pay attention to the school-published newsletters you receive, and find out how to get listed in them.

Advertise in campus newspapers.

Take advantage of free classified ads. Consider running small, inexpensive paid ads. For example: "AYN RAND—Student club forming to study her ideas. Contact . . ." Send a notice to the news department and encourage them to run an article about the formation of your club.

Distribute flyers to students.

Most schools will stuff —or allow you to stuff—student mailfolders with information about student organizations. Another option: slip flyers under dorm room doors. You can reduce the budget for this option by sending to freshmen only, if you can isolate them.

Other possibilities include:

"table tents" in dining halls, window displays at the library or student center, classroom announcements (if the instructor is willing). Your student activities office will probably have more ideas for publicity vehicles on your campus.

Conducting your first meeting

Our recommendations:

Bring with you the videotape you plan to show, the pamphlets and flyers we sent you, and a sign-up sheet and clipboard.

Neatly lay out the pamphlets and flyers.

Present a benevolent, welcoming attitude (often students are not sure what to expect and are skeptical about joining).

Introduce yourself and explain why you wanted to start an Objectivist club and what you have done so far. An excellent starting point is to relate how you discovered Objectivism, and to ask others what led to their interest in Ayn Rand’s ideas.

After showing the videotape, encourage questions and comments about the video. Try to keep the discussion of ideas connected to broad philosophic principles. This can be difficult, since most students have not been educated to think in principle; however, getting bogged down in specific concrete issues is unproductive and leaves out the many attendees who aren’t interested in the concretes being discussed.

Expect a variety among the attendees in terms of their knowledge of Ayn Rand’s philosophy. Some may have read only one novel, while others may be quite well read in Objectivist thought. The latter type may be ready to help out with organizational aspects of the club.

Have a schedule in mind for the next several meetings—but keep your plans flexible and adaptable to the response of the attendees at this first meeting. Write the date and time of the next meeting on the chalkboard.

Delegate the task of entering the names from the sign-up sheets from this meeting—and from future meetings—into a database. Keeping an up-to-date e-mail list—and mailing to it—is one of the most important keys to maintaining a thriving club.

Please write to ARI’s Education Department clubs@aynrand.org, or call (949) 222-6550 Extension 259 and inform us about your first meeting. We are interested to know what you did; how many attended; how many signed up for the mailing list; how the meeting was advertised; how much ARI literature was distributed; what kind of reaction the attendees had to the meeting and what the central issues were.