Clubs and Organizations
Find Your People
At Purchase, joining a club or organization is a great way to connect and socialize, contribute to the sense of community on campus, and, of course, have fun!
They provide a great way to pursue your interests beyond your academic interests, and even more, you gain valuable skills along the way that you can apply long after you graduate.
And if you don’t see one that suits your taste—start your own! It’s easy to do, and you’ll have support from the PSGA (Purchase Student Government Association).
Student Clubs and Organizations for 2024–2025
Afrodisiac is an annual event put together for students by students to celebrate students of color while centering Afro descendants of other cultures. This event also gives students of color the chance to perform on the same stage as outside performers.
We also give students a chance to participate in planning an annual event on campus, giving them the access to contribute many ideas and network while working with outside performers and vendors.
We empower and uplift Black YouTubers by fostering a nurturing and inclusive community where their voices, creativity, and stories shine, free from discrimination or prejudice.
We are dedicated to providing a safe space where Black content creators can thrive, connect, and collaborate, ensuring their unique perspectives enrich and inspire the YouTube platform and beyond.
Arts Management Club connects those passionate about the arts: creators, managers, and appreciators.
Our club provides a network of experience and opportunities within the arts community, which can help open doors in the arts industry for students after Purchase.
We create innovative ways to bring arts and culture to our community, from visual art to live performance entertainment.
Students do NOT need to study arts management in order to join the Arts Management Club.
CAPES provides a space for writers, artists, and comic enthusiasts to come together to bond over shared interest in and collaboratively create comic strips and books!
We Eat Cheese!
A lot of people ask us what we do at Cheese Club. I’ll tell you what we do because it’s simple! We EAT cheese! We talk about cheese! We talk about other things that aren’t cheese!
Cheese Club is one of the oldest and most popular clubs at Purchase, and we’d love to have you tag along with us on our cheese ventures!
Cheese For All!
It is our mission to be an encouraging and positive presence at Purchase College. Our aim is to love and serve others by providing a helping hand, a listening ear, and an eager spirit when they are needed.
This includes conducting weekly bible studies, open discussions, and prayer meetings; helping new students move in; participating in community service/charity opportunities; and simply spending time in fellowship with each other so that together, our bonds may grow and spread.
We aspire to be a safe haven to which students of all faiths, beliefs, ethnicities, backgrounds, and sexual orientations may come and feel accepted.
We will never impose our beliefs on others. Our group is not one in which solely Christians can assemble; our door is open to anyone and everyone who seeks to find a deeper meaning in life.
Above all, it is our ambition to serve the God who first loved us and to share this love with the entire campus community.
Every week, we meet to discuss stand-up, ideas, and share/write jokes! Let’s make funny today!
We explore the economic implications of diverse topics of interest via activities, discussions, interviews, and debates.
Hillel’s mission is to enrich the lives of all undergraduate and graduate students so that they may help the Jewish people and the world!
Hillel offers opportunities to take part in Jewish Education, Israel programs, Tzedek (social justice) efforts, and Jewish prayer and festival celebrations.
We host weekly programs such as lunch and learns, Shabbat dinners, fun games, and more!
We play games, practice teamwork, and always adhere to the improv tenant, “Yes, and!” New members are always welcome, whether they want to participate or watch us goof.
Improv is a safe space where all gender identities and sexualities are included and respected.
The International Student Association is a safe space to find people who can understand and relate to your experience, whether it’s culture shock, social adjustment, or learning and navigating a new language. We appreciate each other’s culture and unique experiences.
Latine Unidos focuses on empowering and amplifying Latine student voices and issues at Purchase College.
The foundational goal of LU is to cultivate a sense of belonging, pride, and community amongst all Purchase students, especially those of Latine/Hispanic and Latin American/Caribbean Diasporas.
Latine Unidos aims to create a space where all Purchase students (not just Latine-identifying students) can come together to have constructive dialogues and process issues but also join us in celebrating our culture and accomplishments.
We encourage and welcome all members of the Purchase Community to join LU, not just those who identify as Latine!
Founded in 1972, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer/Questioning Union has existed at Purchase College, under many names, since the college’s inception. We are one of the oldest student organizations on campus and the first and largest LGBTQ+ student union in New York State.
The LGBTQU aims to educate our campus community on LGBTQ+ issues, advocate on behalf of students, and support students who are coming to terms with, questioning, or curious about all things pertaining to our community.
Lit Society is a club for students who love literature; we provide a space to hang out and talk about it. If you love to read but have no space in your schedule for literature classes, don’t like to speak up in classroom settings, or simply want to talk about something literature-related (anything at all!), come to the Literature Society!
We also screen movies that are adaptations of books, host open mic nights, and play lit-related games.
New York Public Interest Research Group, NYPIRG is the largest student directed advocacy nonprofit in the state. Founded by New York’s student activists in 1976, we work to put the student voice at the forefront of New York’s democracy while empowering our campus community through education and action.
NYPIRG organizes actions and educational events on a range of issues:
- to provide direct relief to those living with hunger and homelessness, to de-stigmatize financial struggle and elevate the voices of the economically disenfranchised;
- to ensure an accessible, affordable, quality public university system so all people have access to education and the opportunities that come with a college degree;
- to protect our communities and the living environment from toxic contamination, to combat the crisis of climate change and to hold corporations and administrations responsible for the consequences of pollution;
- to provide direct relief to low income consumers who’ve been swindled and exploited, and to combat predatory financial and manufacturing practices that leave people broke and harmed by hazardous products;
- and to combat and expose government corruption, protect and improve voting rights and participation, to improve political literacy, to provide a source of non-partisan issue based information for the public and a path to action for the voiceless.
New players are always welcome!
Outdoors Club is a group of students who share a passion for getting out into nature! This club consists of on-campus nature-inspired crafts, exploration of outdoor adventures/sports, and trips to nearby hiking destinations (such as Bear Mountain, Hudson Highlands, and beautiful parks within the Westchester area).
Join Outdoors Club if you are interested in spending time with cool people outside and getting introduced to all the natural wonders this area has to offer!
Planned Parenthood at Purchase is a student-run club that is affiliated with the activism branch of Planned Parenthood.
Our meetings consist of conversations on sexuality, sexual health, reproductive freedom, sexual justice, and future activism. We hold sex ed events to provide information and free barrier protection to students.
Tune in for some good conversation, to meet new people, and an opportunity to bring better sexual health and reproductive freedom to the Purchase community and the country at large!
The Political Science Club hopes to build an inclusive community by promoting dialogue in the campus community about important issues in our political moment.
We are open to all views and perspectives that respect the value of our diverse community and promote thoughtful discussion.
Everyone is welcome to join. We hope to increase political consciousness, collectiveness, and action through discussions at meetings and events.
The Purchase Pre-Med Club provides information about different aspects of the healthcare field (medical school, nutrition, physical therapy, optometry, biomedical research, etc.) and informs students about opportunities such as shadowing, jobs, internships, and more.
We guide students through the process of applying to medical schools and aid in preparation for entrance exams, interviews, and the application processes. We host sessions with admission counselors to provide students with ideas on how to make their applications stand out.
Queer People of Color is a space for persons of color that identify with the queer/trans experience. We meet weekly to provide a safe space for our people in both a PWI/cishet-normative world at large.
Aside from our meetings, we throw events that represent the vastness of our cultures and collaborate with other clubs that highlight our intersectional walks.
Fashion is something that we love and observe every day. We view different fashions and end up leaving the room with the knowledge of fashion in today’s society. Being comfortable in your own skin. Styling yourself gives you more confidence in yourself. This club will prepare you for the fashion world, especially modeling. We will also have a student-run magazine to show Purchase students’ lifestyle, fashion, beauty, and the arts.
Student-Run Services
Current Services Available:
- Peer-to-Peer Counseling
- Contraceptives: Condoms, Internal Condoms, Lube, Dental Dams
- Gender Affirming Products: Chest-Binders
- Menstrual Products: Period Underwear
Green Services
Freenew™
Freenew™, created in 2012, is an innovative environmental solution for universities and other establishments. Freenew™ organizes university student donations by creating a recycling operation for the college community to donate items.
It provides an organized method to collect useful items, which would have otherwise been sent to a landfill, and give the items back to the student body—at no cost—the following semester.
A large number of usable items are thrown in the trash as students at Purchase rush to move out of their on-campus homes at the end of the school year. Freenew™ provides safe and easily accessible places for residents to donate unneeded but still usable items during Move Out week, so incoming residents can use these items for their own purposes during the beginning of the following school year.
We encourage students to keep these items on campus in order to save themselves money as well as reduce dumpster utility costs. To do so, Freenew™ has implemented a system where students can place objects in sheds around the campus. These act as holding containers for donated items over the summer months until students return for the fall semester and are free to take items from the Sheds.
Free Store
The FreeStore at Purchase is a sustainability and mutual aid service dedicated to reducing waste, subverting capitalism, and providing a space for the Purchase community to organize around ecological and social justice issues.
The FreeStore responds to the issues of waste and food insecurity in our campus community and provides an array of services such as clothing, art supplies, nonperishable food, household goods and appliances, books and magazines, and more!
We are actively working with other sustainability services to provide a space for students to get involved and donate at their convenience.
We aim to create space for student organizing, student events, and creating community.
Intramural Classes and Clubs
Practices are mandatory in order to become the best cheer club ever, so get your pom-poms ready and see you at practice!
Club Cirque is for everyone to be introduced or fine tune the techniques in a variety of Circus Skills, including juggling, unicycle, Rolla Bolla, stilt walking, balancing, trapeze, acrobatics, and clowning. Students progress at their own pace. Working professionals in an array of circus skills give master classes and one-on-one attention.
Nerf Club is for anyone and everyone. Whether you come to make friends, blow off steam, or just want to shoot foam darts, the Nerf Club is for you. We play a variety of games like Team Death Match and Zombie themed games, along with an on campus game every semester. Don’t have a blaster? No problem! We have plenty to choose from. Hope to see you there!
Learn more about Intramural Classes and Clubs on the Athletics website.