As a science departmental club executive...

A non-abstract issue would be if people are outwardly hostile to newcomers. While this is/was a problem being dealt with, it's not the problem I'm addressing in this post. The problem i'm addressing in the post is the fact that the space appears culty, which is abstract because the notion of a clique is up to perception, and depending on how you are introduced to the space you might see it as welcoming or unwelcoming.

Yes, friends hang out there. That's why they're clubs - it's a group of people who are interested in similar things and hang out in a dedicated space. Things like these are open for anyone to join. I fail to see how the issue is different from any other club space or study room on campus (the smaller physics study room is the same - it's mostly a few friend groups in there most of the time, and I'm sure other places are similar). Friends don't turn the space into "their" hangout space. Rather, the hangout space facilitates the formation of friend groups in the first place. Any space like this is going to have this happen.

The point I want to drive home is that these spaces are open for people to join - they shouldn't appear 'culty' just because there is a consistent group of people there who are enthusiastic about the space, and the presence of an existing population shouldn't deter new people from joining in. That's why we're working towards making the space better - so that people don't get scared off by this. It's all about fixing how people perceive the space, rather than fixing the behaviour of specific groups.

/r/uwaterloo Thread Parent