All or nothing is never an appealing policy.

The FIRE blog reports.

CSU Long Beach Administrators Refuse to Recognize Any New Student Organization

Yesterday marked the first day of the fall semester at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), but students there cannot form new student organizations due to administrators’ “moratorium” on recognizing new organizations—a “temporary” restriction that has lasted since at least September of 2015. The unexplained moratorium means that students who want to start a new organization—whether it’s a political group or a chapter of the Make-a-Wish foundation—are added to a list, but cannot use campus facilities or ask for a dime of the fees students pay to the student government. FIRE is calling on CSULB to resume recognizing student groups, or at least explain why it is refusing to do so, before this moratorium drags into a second year.

FIRE was alerted to the moratorium by a student unable to get administrators to explain to him why he could not start a new organization. In March, FIRE issued a public records request to CSULB under California’s Public Records Act, asking for documents relating to the moratorium. When CSULB eventually—and belatedly—provided these records, FIRE learned that at least 24 organizations had been added to the waiting list.

So what organizations are waiting indefinitely for an administrator to bless them with a stamp of approval? One is a chapter of the Make-a-Wish foundation, which aids children with terminal illnesses. Others—including an organization dedicated to sharing immigrants’ stories, a pro-Second Amendment group, and a pro-life group—are political in nature, and could provide perspectives that would be highly relevant during an election season that is already in full swing.

College campuses are largely sequestered communities, composed of students who are there only for a few years. Students join or create organizations and, through those organizations, interact with their campus community, making it their own. Administrators, in turn, can boast to prospective students about the vibrant campus community and the opportunities created by these eager students.