Bluey Club announced the club is going on sabbatical as of its last meeting on Feb. 6. President Isabelle Horrell delivered the bittersweet news before the meeting began, after a semester of troubles.
Horrell said the decision came from the executive board, due to low-turnout and the time commitment Bluey Club required. She said this doesn’t mean that the club is officially ending or being “terminated.” Bluey Club is still registered for this semester.
“So, if we decide, ‘Hey! Let’s get the gang back together,’ we can still do that,” Horrell said. “But, as far as what the rest of the semester looks like, we’re not going to be meeting regularly. We’re going on break.”
Horrell said next year is “up in the air” on a return.
“It just depends on the motivation and if people want (a return),” she said. “We want to give the people what they want, so if they want Bluey Club, we’ll bring it back for funsies.”
Horrell said the club has theories why membership has been so down. She mentioned the possibility of returning to H.C. Franklin Residence Hall where the club originated, and where most of their members are from.
“We, as an exec, are tired,” Horrell said.
Founder, event coordinator and former president Miracle Schimdt said membership dropped last semester because Bluey Club moved to a “much less convenient location.” She said the club was expecting a few people to come back, “but (no one) did because we moved.” She also said the factor of people getting older and having new commitments on Thursdays contributed.
Schmidt said the club had trouble with people filling roles to which they weren’t able to commit. She also said she stepped down from being president due to mental health reasons.
“I lost passion for it,” she said. “Isabelle kind of took up the burden since she was vice president and she never signed up for being president.”
Horrell said despite stepping in as president last semester, the club persevered through the “sudden, drastic shift in leadership.” Horrell extended the executive board from four to 11 people through recruiting and interviews and said this was the “beginning of the challenging semester ahead” with herself in a “completely foreign leadership position.”
Horrell said the team had some growing pains and struggles trying to “do bigger things” so people would return to Bluey Club.
One of the recruited executive board members, Engagement Officer Maddie Willaims commented on these growing pains, saying there was a lack of communication within the club, as well as questionable leadership, especially as she said “quite a few people had never been in leadership positions.”
Williams said Bluey Club was founded by a “very close friend group” and believes there was a separation between them and the rest of the executive board.
“I think that kind of ruled—I don’t want to say ‘got in the way,’ but when they were communicating with each other, I think there were times when they didn’t tell us,” she said.
Williams also said she wasn’t involved in the decision to go on sabbatical.
“I wouldn’t have said ‘yes’ to (sabbatical) if I were consulted, but I wasn’t,” she said. “I mean, was I a member of the executive board? Yes. Was I consulted about Bluey Club (going on sabbatical)? No. There were quite a few of us who weren’t.”
Williams also said one of Bluey Club’s mottos was that it’s “a dictatorship, it is not a democracy.” She said the motto was said “frequently and with complete sincerity,” meaning no question of authority was allowed.
She said she believes this to be “genuinely true” as she doesn’t think “the end of Bluey Club” was handled in the best way.
“Looking back, I shouldn’t have been shocked because Bluey Club was a dictatorship and they were very proud of that,” she said. “I wish I could’ve fought for it (to stay).”
Horrell said she has faith the club will be bigger and better if people truly want it to return.
“This was an extremely difficult decision for me as I saw first hand how much people loved Bluey Club and how it brought people together in such an odd but beautiful way,” Horrell said. “I will forever cherish the memories I made and people I got to meet along the way.”
