Saint Mary's College of California - Student Life

Student Life

There are 45 active clubs on campus, a few of which are service clubs, diversity clubs, academic clubs, and special interest clubs. The Associated Students of Saint Mary's College (ASSMC) oversees the club and serves as the student government. Each class elects a president and vice-president, as well as several other student senators. The entire school elects the ASSMC president and the three executive vice-presidents (Administration, Student Affairs and Finance). The Student Involvement and Leadership office assists ASSMC and the clubs in providing programming and events on campus. A full list of student clubs and organizations can be found here.

Being a Lasallian school, community service plays a big role on campus. The Catholic Institute for Lasallian Social Action or CILSA coordinates most service work on campus, and each year students perform many hours of community service. In January 2006, twenty-five students and two professors traveled to New Orleans to help clean up parks and rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. These trips to New Orleans have continued in subsequent years.

The campus has a chapel in which Mass is held daily and twice on Sundays. The main student Mass is on Sundays at 8 p.m. There are several priests who work on campus, many of whom also teach classes. In late 2006, a Catholic youth group known as Xalt! was started by students. It has weekly meetings in the chapel, with presentations given by professors.

It is not a requirement to be Catholic in order to attend Saint Mary's, and students do not have to take courses in Catholicism (two general Religious Studies classes are required, an introductory course of the Bible and Its Interpretation and an elective of the student's choosing). However, 45% of Saint Mary’s undergraduate students are Catholic, and many are involved in community service. Nearly 10 percent of every graduating class goes on to join a major service organization: the Peace Corps, the Lasallian Volunteers, Teach for America or the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.

Saint Mary's has an academic support center which helps students who have disabilities and other special needs. There are also offices set up to assist students of color (44% of the traditional undergraduate student body identifies as an ethnic minority) and first-generation college students (more than one-third of SMC undergrads).

The college has a weekly newspaper called The Collegian, a radio station, KSMC 89.5, and a television station, GaelVision (Channel 20). The campus also access to the Saint Mary’s Magazine and the weekly SMC Bulletin.

Student organizations and academic departments sponsor a variety of campus events for the College community and the public. Forums and presentations address topics such as cultural diversity, Middle East politics, religion and science and women in society. There are also classical music concerts, usually held in the chapel, featuring either groups from outside the campus, or student groups such as the choir. In keeping with the College's hallmark Great Books and seminar programs, which foster conversations among students and professors about significant issues facing society, Saint Mary's routinely features thought leaders from around the world to speak at the College. Some of the notable people who have spoken at Saint Mary's College since August 2006 are human rights activists Dolores Huerta and Mother Antonia, local US congress members Ellen Tauscher and George Miller, Czech politician/diplomat Jan Kavan, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and Kevin Quigley, head of the Peace Corps Association. In September 2010, Saint Mary’s hosted the first U.S. Senatorial debate between incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer and her then Republican challenger Carly Fiorina. The one-hour debate was held before a live audience in the College’s LeFevre Theatre and was sponsored by KTVU Channel 2 News, the San Francisco Chronicle and KQED Public Radio.