Group name is a required field. The name will be used to identify the group in notifications sent to users, in the context created for the group, and, if the group is public, in the Campus Groups Directory. Groups names usually are displayed without any indication of the category that the group belongs to, so the name you suggest should make sense on its own. Note that if your application is accepted and the group created, you will not be allowed to change the name -- only a Campus Groups administrator will be allowed to make this type of change.

The group application form does not include a field for group leader, but when you submit the application, you will automatically be suggested as the group leader. It is possible for the administrator to change this after approving the group. However, if that does not happen, you will be the leader, which means you will be responsible for the group, at least initially. If desired, once the group is created, you can designate someone else as a co-leader. After doing that, you can also demote yourself to being a member (or you can drop the group).

Each group must be assigned to a category that describes the general purpose of the group. If the group is public, the category classification will help other users find the group when they are browsing the Campus Groups Directory.

Each group must be classified as either public or private. This designation affects whether the group is listed in the Campus Groups Directory, and how people become members in the group.

A public group is one that is listed in the Campus Groups Directory and which can have any of several membership options (described below in Public group enrollment options).

A private group is one that is not listed in the Campus Groups Directory and which has only one style of membership (members are added manually by the group's leaders). This is similar to the "invitation" style of membership seen in public groups, except that people added to private groups do not have the option of accepting or ignoring an invitation -- when they are added by the leader, they simply receive a notification that they have been added.

The enrollment options for a public group are:

·       Open, no application required -- Any user can proactively join the group and instantly become a member. Each time this happens, the leader gets a notification indicating who has joined.

·       Open, by membership application -- Any user can submit an application for membership, and if the application is approved by the group’s leader, the applicant becomes a member.

·       Open, by invitation only -- A user can become a member only if he or she receives an invitation from the group’s leader. The invitee then must accept the invitation to become a member, by visiting the Join Group portlet on the inviting group’s Public Page, or visiting a Campus Groups portlet listing the users’s current groups and clicking on the Join Now link provided there.

·       Closed to new members -- No one can join the group. At the time the group is created, this might be an appropriate choice if the leader(s) need time to set up the group’s pages or if they want to do some other prep work prior to accepting members.

When the maximum number of members has joined a group, the system automatically closes the group to new members. A group leader can also manually close a group at any time by editing its membership settings.

This description offers more details about the group. This description is displayed only to administrators reviewing the group’s data.