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The Dean of Students Office announced Monday it will end its year-long pause on considering applications from prospective student organizations, paving the way for new clubs to request official recognition from the College through a revamped application process.

The decision to stop approving new student organizations last year came amid an internal club audit that was conducted by the DSO in conjunction with Harvard’s risk management office. The review followed a series of financial mismanagement scandals involving independent undergraduate organizations.

The audit resulted in the elimination of more than 100 independent student organizations, Assistant Dean for Student Engagement Andrew Donahue wrote in a statement. The College recognized more than 470 student groups prior to the audit, but only 366 organizations continue to hold official recognition following the audit.

It was not immediately clear how the DSO decided to strip the student organizations of their official recognition or if they would be allowed to reapply in the fall. Donahue did not provide a list of the groups that lost official recognition from the College.

The reformed application process, which will open on Thursday, will allow clubs to become officially recognized by the end of the fall semester. Clubs will not be able to apply for recognition during the spring semester.

New groups will have until September 29 to submit an online application “including a mission statement, constitution, and descriptions of “the organization’s use of resources and impact on campus,” according to the DSO’s announcement.

The Office of Student Engagement and Harvard Undergraduate Association’s extracurricular team will conduct a preliminary review of applications. Donahue will make a final recommendation for certain organizations to move forward to a mandatory three-part training process in October and November regarding campus events, managing finances, and organizational leadership.

The College’s Committee on Student Life will then consider new clubs for approval in December, and successful applicants will be officially recognized for the spring 2025 semester.

Prior to last year’s recognition pause, students applying for official status completed two interviews with DSO staff and HUA officers. The previous semester-long application process ended with student groups receiving “provisional status” for two semesters, after which student leaders would complete a check-in interview before gaining official status.

Under the new application process, Donahue will effectively take on the role of gatekeeper. He will review the recommendations from the HUA and the Office of Student Engagement and make the final recommendation. If necessary, Donahue will also serve as the tie-breaking vote.

College recognition confers clubs the ability to access Harvard mailing lists, reserve campus meeting spaces, and receive official funding, which comes from the Student Activities Fee and is distributed by the HUA.

The DSO wrote in the Monday statement that the club freeze “allowed the Office of Student Engagement to assess the student organization environment and reimagine a recognition process that will result in more student organizations that are able to endure after their founders move on from Harvard.”

Despite the recognition pause, some students informally started clubs, though they were unable to access benefits like funding and meeting spaces. Club sports and student organizations affiliated with academic departments at Harvard were still able to apply for recognition during the pause.

Adam M. Bartholomew ’26, who began trying to found the Harvard College Steelpan Ensemble in December 2022, said Associate Director of Student Organizations and Resources JonRobert Bagley told him that “the easiest pathway to becoming recognized” would be to pursue department-sponsored recognition.

Though Bartholomew and his co-founder Elizabeth A. Bennett ’26 gained departmental recognition ahead of the 2024-25 academic year, they said they initially struggled to find information about registration and funding.

“There’s no centralized location, and there’s also no centralized place where you go and ask for that initial help — never mind funding,” Bennett said. “Just like, ‘Hey, I want to set up an organization. Where do I start?’ I think that would be helpful.”

Unrecognized student groups also came into the spotlight in April when the College suspended the Palestine Solidarity Committee, revoking its ability to hold events on campus. Since the PSC’s suspension, pro-Palestine activism on campus — including a 20-day Harvard Yard encampment — has primarily been organized by Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine, a coalition of unrecognized student groups.

Some students interested in forming a new organization said they were frustrated by the lack of information available prior to the start of the academic year.

Maibritt M.M. Henkel ’25, who has been working to co-found the Rethinking Economics club since summer 2023, said she was frustrated by the lack of communication about when and how the club recognition process would return.

“I found it very confusing,” Henkel said. “It would be nice just to have a bit of institutional acknowledgement that this is hurting certain students.”

—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.

—Staff writer Madeleine A. Hung can be reached at madeleine.hung@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.