Advice on starting a Tolkien club, pretty please?

[Megiliel]

I suppose I should give a bit of background: I've been obsessed with Tolkien's works since middle school, to the point that I'm considering doing some work in Tolkien studies, perhaps in grad school. Right now I'm three semesters away from a Bachelor's in English. A few days ago I was talking Lord of the Rings with another student when I got the idea to start an on-campus Tolkien society. My main concern is that there wouldn't be enough interest. Even worse, I'm afraid that the interest might be... well, not exactly scholarly. I want to approach this in an academic fashion (at least for the most part), but I'm a bit worried that folks might consider it a novelty, show up to one meeting, and disappear, leaving me to contemplate The Kinslaying, &c. on my own. I know all the hoops I need to jump through to start a campus organization, but if y'all have any advice on how to go about keeping something like this up and running, that would be most appreciated!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I would consider contacting the Mythopoeic Society. In particular, see their Discussion Group page at their website:

http://www.mythsoc.org/groups/

They have a description of how to form a group, as well as a listing of active groups across the U.S.

[Holbytla]

This gentleman at Wheaton College may be able to give some insight;

http://wheatoncollege.edu/faculty/profi ... ael-drout/

Or maybe you should transfer to there.

Clubs or ideas such as yours generally are difficult and slow to get going, but they also tend to perpetuate themselves if one correctly.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I had the pleasure of meeting Mike Drout at last month's Mythcon, where he was the scholar guest of honor. Great guy.

[Megiliel]

Voronwë, thanks for the link. The closest group is actually not far from my school. Holbytla, I will be checking out their master's degree programs for sure.

Thank you all for the advice!