A CHANCE for representation, visibility and support is what the League of Independent Organizations (LIONS) offers unaccredited student organizations.

AJ Elicaño, Sophomore Year Central Board Representative and Co-Chairperson of the Committee for External Affairs (CEA), said that LIONS is assisting the unaccredited organizations. “We saw that unaccredited orgs needed help in accreditation, financial support, information dissemination, [among others].”

Elicaño added they opted for the term independent instead of unaccredited, “because it gives unaccredited organizations identity which is based not on what they lack but on what they have and what they are.”

Association of European Studies Students President Harald Tomintz said that he and Association of Interdisciplinary Studies Majors President Angelica De Asis decided to draft a constitution that would serve as an umbrella org for unaccredited orgs. “However, it did not push through last year because we felt it was still too young.”

On November 30, a plenary was held where the LIONS constitution was presented to the different independent organizations for consultation purposes.

Elicaño added that December 21 would be the day they vote on whether the constitution will be passed and signed.

Amending the Constitution

Tomintz said that the creation of LIONS’ constitution will be a great impact to the community. He added that LIONS would provide better representation of School of Humanities organizations, more visibility for the athletics groups, support for starting groups, and assistance to orgs who want to be accredited.

Before the constitution was amended, however, CEA added provisions and changes.
“We [also] included provisions on budget and clauses particular to those orgs wanting to get accreditation. We placed structure to the league so as to ensure that it will not deteriorate in the future,” added Tomintz.

The original constitution included a high council, which is composed of the high chancellor or the head and the representatives of the different organizations. “We [originally] didn’t have a secretary-treasurer, it was just added in the modified version,” said Tomintz.
De Asis said that she and Tomintz divided the work in drafting the constitution. While Tomintz created the voting process and the council structure, De Asis oversaw the clustering of the organizations and the necessary provisions there.

Clustering of organizations

Tomintz and De Asis proposed five clusters. Before being amended, however, Elicaño modified the cluster names. The clusters include Fine Arts, Social Involvement, Games and Hobbies, Cultural Discourse and the Athletics cluster.

Elicaño also clarified that the clusters were not yet final and that the organizations still had a say in it.

“When we presented the constitution, we told the orgs that not only can they join their chosen cluster but they can also propose new clusters or change cluster names as they see fit. The clusters right now are the best way we thought of categorizing the orgs.”

“We had to be careful and specific in naming and branding the clusters to make sure that most if not all independent orgs will fall under a particular cluster,” added Tomintz.

Working with COA

Elicaño clarified that LIONS is not out to compete with the Council of Organizations of the Ateneo (COA) because they cater and focus on different orgs.

He added that COA approved of the concept of LIONS.

“LIONS is here to offer an alternative means to unaccredited orgs to receive services that LIONS can provide them and that OSA can extend as well,” added Elicaño.

He also said that LIONS would be open to any potential tie ups with COA.

Making it official

Tomintz said that if the constitution will be passed, they will be nominating the chancellor, the secretary-treasurer, and the representatives of each org so they could be part of the high council.

De Asis added that they are also planning a LIONS week and a recruitment week.