More than 100 students representing a variety of campus organizations gathered Sunday night to launch the Student Group Union, an initiative designed to facilitate better coordination among student clubs.

Held in Copley Formal Lounge, the event served as a platform for organizers to explain their mission to represent and advocate for all student groups while pressing the leaders of various organizations to sign the SGU constitution in the coming weeks.

“This is an overarching group that will be addressing a variety of issues,” SGU steering committee member Eitan Paul (SFS ’12) said. “A lot of effort will be needed to unite all of the different structures of government on campus.”

Once the constitution is adopted, elections for the SGU’s executive committee will be held. The committee will be comprised of one representative each from 10 designated categories of student organizations: media, performing arts, volunteer, advocacy, cultural, political, common interest, club sports, student government and non-advisory board groups.

However, some students at the kickoff expressed concern about the process of classifying the groups. Others questioned whether all clubs would be equally represented within the SGU.

“Ideally, we hope to get the same number of groups under category, but we also recognize that some groups are comprised of a greater number of students,” Paul said. “We are still currently working this out and are willing to receive feedback from every group.”

The event started out with two students sharing their frustrations about the difficulties they face trying to communicate and coordinate space reservations.

Mary Boyle (COL ’14), event planner for the club volleyball team, said this environment dampened the general enthusiasm for club sports on campus.

“Communication between the Yates Field House and club sports is tedious,” she said. “If club sports work as a team, the communication platform provided by the SGU will enable the needs of each group to be met more efficiently.”

Aman Shahi (COL ’13), co-captain of GU Jawani, described similar experiences for performing arts groups. He described the groups Thursday night practices in their cramped space.

“We can’t hear our own songs clearly. Worse of all, it’s crowded, and it smells. A simply solution would just be the dance groups getting together regularly and figuring out a group calendar. But so far no platform … of communication has been formed,” he said.

While one of the core goals of the union is to advocate on behalf of student groups to the administration and to funding boards, James Pickens (COL ’12) said that the SGU has the potential to improve efficiency by creating a platform for communication.

“The SGU can solve a lot of problems without talking to the administration,” he said. “For example, club sports would only have to gather together to work out conflicting practice schedules without every single one of them talking to the Yates Field House. By eliminating the middleman in the university, everything could become easier and faster.”

Similarly, students at the kickoff  suggested an organized platform that gathers useful information that many student groups may be unaware of.

Michael Fischer (SFS ’13), a former columnist for The Hoya, suggested that the group could better advertise the opportunities and funding sponsored by student groups available for students. “SGU should be able to organize and incorporate all of this information,” he said.