For some student political groups, applying for university recognition has been a long and troublesome process.

Leaders of Students for Dean and Students for Kerry both compared working within the university's guidelines for student organizations to "jumping through hoops" and said the wait for recognition has been frustrating.

Pamela Larde, coordinator for student organizations and leadership in the Office of Student Development, said she agreed with students that the application process is "way too long" but said she disagreed that students must jump through hoops to obtain recognition.

Larde said student organizations looking for recognition must submit a "request to organize" form to OSD that states the organization's purpose, membership requirements and a list of five people interested.

The organization must then write a constitution that follows a model document to be approved by OSD and Marquette Student Government.

Senior Megan Toal-Rossi, founder of Students for Kerry, called applying for recognition "a really difficult process" that was "a headache to think about because we didn't have very much flexibility with the university until we were approved, which took forever."

"It's been really frustrating that student government has not been able to work more quickly," Toal-Rossi said. "By the time we'll be approved, the primary will be over."

She said she first applied in fall and after Larde made a few small changes to the constitution, the organization was approved by MUSG Feb. 5. Larde said final approval was granted Friday.

Sophomore Brie Mueller, head of MUSG's Student Organizations committee and a College of Communication senator, said her committee reviews the format and grammar of the constitution.

Mueller said the organization's election process and non-discrimination clause are the most important factors when reviewing a constitution, but usually the documents only need grammar and format changes.

"We're working on a really tight timeline, and the fact that the university is not sensitive to that is disappointing," Toal-Rossi said.

Once the constitution has MUSG approval, Larde said she meets with the group to explain university policy and procedure since the students are now an official organization.

Sophomore Ryan Alexander, leader of Students for Dean, said he went "through so many hoops to get (university recognition) done."

"The university's policies regarding student organization membership are completely ridiculous," Alexander said. "I had to change our constitution to fit the exact format the university wanted, which literally meant doing small-time things like how to label sections."

Alexander said it took a long time to receive recognition — he said he applied for recognition in early September and was approved in October.

Students' complaints were justified this year, Larde said, because many constitutions were not reviewed right away. She said the process typically takes a month, but for those who applied in October 2003 it took an extra three weeks.

Not only were there new members on the MUSG committee to train, but Larde said there were already constitutions awaiting review from spring 2003.

While awaiting approval, organizations are allowed up to three meetings to recruit members and construct their constitution, Larde said.

"I'm not even going to try to defend the approval process," Larde said, "But I'm really interested in fixing it to make the process a lot smoother."

However, one student said he did not have any complaints.

While freshman Daniel Suhr, founder of Students for Bush, said applying for recognition "has been a process," he also said Larde and Mueller were very cooperative.

Suhr said he contacted OSD in November to obtain recognition, and Mueller said MUSG approved Students for Bush Sunday. The group awaits final approval from OSD.

Of the different student political groups, Mueller said Students for Dean and Students for Kucinich have received official university recognition. Larde said Students for Clark was approved on Friday, but said she was not sure what the status of that organization currently is.

Representatives from Students for Kucinich could not be reached for comment.