OrgSync allows students to access clubs

At least 40 student organizations are registered with OrgSync, said Mark Bigelow, assistant coordinator of student leadership and activities.

OrgSync is management software for university and college organizations to communicate, recruit, update events, calendars and files.

According to its website, OrgSync was founded in 2007 by University of Texas at Austin students Eric Fortenberry and Cayce Stone because of communication problems encountered with organizations on campus.

OrgSync has more than 200 universities and colleges listed as campus partners on its website.

Student life paid $6,000-$7,000 for the software, The Ranger reported Oct. 7, 2010.

At the Sept. 29 Presidents' Roundtable, Bigelow said clubs have not kept their OrgSync pages current. "It's not that they're not updating it enough," Bigelow said. "It's that after they elect new officers, they need to update it."

Computer science freshman Aketzali Aguilar said she was told OrgSync was a way to get involved in community service and that it resembled Facebook. Aguilar said she had to access OrgSync to set up an account to join the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science.

Linda Espino, education sophomore and president of the Teaching Academy Program Peers, said TAPP uses OrgSync frequently to post agendas, meetings and reminders and to send e-mails to members.

Biology freshman Olma Arellano said OrgSync does not ring a bell, but she recalled hearing about another site, Red Rover, during a student development session.

Red Rover is an inventory program used to gather student interests from Facebook to plan activities and events students are interested in.

Incoming students voluntarily sign up for Red Rover during orientation. On Feb. 12, 2010, The Ranger reported that Red Rover cost student life $12,000.

Bigelow said Tuesday, "I know that we are doing away with Red Rover." He said the program was on the old website, but since the college has launched a new site, he cannot access the site anymore.

Alamo Colleges rolled out standardized websites Oct. 10. "On the new webpage, when students go there, it's OrgSync all over the place," he said. "Almost every page, it is ‘go to OrgSync for more information.'"