Div Dictionary: CLC

CLC (n): the Community Life Committee, YDS’s school-sponsored social scene.

From unpromising beginnings, I’ve had quite a productive day. Having just woken up from a 45-minute reward nap on the CLC/BTFO office couch, it occurred to me that many of you may not actually know what the CLC is. (BTFO, I assume, you’ve got down.)

Whether out of concern for building a real sense of community among YDS folk, confusion over how to blow endowment funding, or concern that the dorkier among us might not be able to build social lives without a nudge or several, YDS sponsors a huge number of events on campus. The ones that aren’t lectures or conferences, the parties, study breaks, movie screenings, happy hour and other such frivolity, are often sponsored through the Community Life Committee. Since we love our acronyms around here, we just say “CLC.” Here’s a much better description than my nap-addled brain is going to put together, straight from the CLC website:

The YDS Community Life Committee (CLC) seeks to provide opportunities for fellowship, spiritual and intellectual growth, rest, celebration, and relaxation for the YDS Community. The Community Life Committee (CLC) is a Standing Committee of the General Faculty of the Divinity School comprised of faculty members, administrators, and student Representatives. The CLC allocates funding to student groups, is responsible for the annual Back-to-School Cook-out, the Christmas Party, Spring Fling, the All School Conference, Fatted Cafés, Coffee Hour, and more!

Faculty members and administrators are appointed by the Dean, with one serving as co-chair. The other co-chair is held jointly by the student co-coordinators. Other students serving on the Committee include four elected members of the student body: a first-year student, a Master of Divinity student, a Master of Arts in Religion student, and an at-large member. The Student Council President may also serve on the CLC.

On this website you can also take a gander at the impressive number of student activities YDS has going on. (Remember that we’re a mere 350-students strong, and that many of us are supposed to be spending all our time studying. In that light in particular, that’s a pretty active group of folk.) Since CLC funds student groups, most on-campus student-produced events are at least partially CLC funded. CLC also funds and produces the BIG campus events – like our end-of-semester parties: the Advent Party and Spring Fling. Generally, if you’re eating free food on campus, you’re probably at a CLC event. If you’re drinking free beer on campus, you’re definitely at a CLC event. The CLC is headed by a faculty member and two students (not gonna lie, I just learned that from the website). Last year’s student CLC coordinators were also at just about every event that happened within a 10-mile radius of campus to provide support and Key Lime Pie.

The one thing the CLC doesn’t fund is BTFO, which is why I will kindly redirect all your complaints about the lack of beer and Key Lime Pie elsewhere.

-Kate

PS: I just want to say that I tried pretty hard to Google-image some photos from Spring Fling and the Advent Party, and they were all photos of Dale. (And this gem, of our registrar, Lisa Huck, which is my new favorite thing on the internet -- pending zooborns.com update, of course.) Yet, when you Google "Dale Peterson"? Nothing.