Space usage on campus is governed by established policies and procedures. Find what you need to know below.

Location-Specific Guidelines:

Occidental College Space Management Policy (Academic Year)

Purpose

Occidental College facilities exist to serve the College’s mission. Occidental welcomes the responsible use of its facilities by groups and individuals for purposes that conform to and support the College’s mission. As an institution of higher learning, Occidental College seeks to balance its commitment to teaching, research, and co-curricular activities with its commitment to public service and to the broader community of which it is a part.

This policy serves to:

1. Establish the foundation for service to the many internal and external parties who wish to schedule events at Occidental or use campus facilities;

2. Inform internal and external parties of the basis upon which the College’s reservable spaces are allocated;

3. Minimize scheduling conflicts, overlaps and space proximities that may limit the success of approved events; and

4. Provide information about the College’s event approval processes, and resources available to event planners

A. Overview

All Occidental facilities are owned by the College, a private non-profit California corporation, and their use is administered centrally. The President delegates the authority to schedule College facilities based on relevant policies and procedures to the Office of the Registrar and the Office of Master Calendar. These offices schedule facilities according to the following priorities during the academic year. (Summer scheduling is not covered by this policy.)

Priority Categories

  1. Academic activities involving course credit

  2. College activities as directed by the Office of the President or a senior level administrator

  3. Academic activities related to the instructional mission of the College

  4. Administrative department meetings and programs

  5. Athletic activities in which Occidental College students compete, other than club sports and intramurals

  6. Activities related to student clubs and organizations that are recognized by the Offices within Student Affairs in which Occidental College students participate

  7. Sponsored activities

  8. External activities

These eight activity categories are defined below. All Category 1 activities are scheduled by the Office of the Registrar. All Category 2-8 activities must enter the Master Calendar registration and approval process to obtain access to College facilities. All Category 8 activities must be coordinated and contracted with one of the approved offices noted below.

Insurance Requirements:

Category 1-7 events may have elements that require insurance and/or permitting. These elements may include, but are not limited to: Crowd size, guest speakers and entertainment, vendors, fire safety, alcohol, and live animals.

It is the event coordinator/organizers responsibility to submit a Request for Events Services as soon as possible (but no later than 15 business days) before the event in order to alert resource providers of potential risk factors, so that a determination can be made as to the extent of insurance required, if any.

All insurance policies obtained for events must name Occidental College as a named insured and meet all current requirements of the Office of General Counsel/Risk Management. The event coordinator/organizer must provide a copy of any required insurance policy to the Office of Risk Management no later than 10 business days before the event is scheduled to occur.

B. Category Definition s

1. “Academic activities involving course credit” are those activities directly related to the instructional mission of the College that take place in designated classrooms and laboratories such as: classes offered for credit to enrolled students, class-related laboratories, and programmatic activities directly related to credit-bearing classes. The Office of the Registrar schedules Priority 1 activities in designated classrooms and laboratories but does not schedule other campus facilities.

2. “College activities as directed by the Office of the President, or a senior level administrator” includes but is not limited to annual College-wide activities such as Orientation, Convocation, Homecoming & Family Weekend, Commencement, Alumni Reunion Weekend, Trustee full board meetings, and major events hosted by the Offices of Admission and Institutional Advancement. It also includes any events or programs these leaders determine will serve the College’s mission or will benefit the College, including programs of interest to the community. For the purposes of this policy, a senior level administrator is defined as a vice president.

3. “Academic activities related to the instructional mission of the College” are activities sponsored by faculty members or departments that are generally not related to offering credit to enrolled students, but are related to the instructional mission. These activities include such events as seminars, internal conferences, lectures, and presentations by visiting scholars. Student filming for an academic purpose, as well as required movie screenings fall within this category. The Dean of the College/Vice President for Academic Affairs approves activities encompassed by this definition.

4. “Administrative department meetings and programs” are meetings, workshops, events and programs called by a formal administrative department of the College. These activities generally occur during regular business hours, and are typically held in conference rooms, available classrooms, or larger common spaces on campus.

5. “Athletic activities in which Occidental College students compete, other than club sports and intramurals” includes all SCIAC-sanctioned events and NCAA Division III intercollegiate competitions, and team practices related to league-sanctioned intercollegiate competition.

6. “Activities related to student clubs and organizations that are recognized by the Offices within Student Affairs, including club sports and intramurals in which Occidental College students participate” are events related to those student clubs and organizations that are recognized by the Student Leadership, Involvement & Community Engagement (SLICE) office. Examples of such events include meetings, workshops, conferences, games, shows, concerts, movies, and dances.

7. “Sponsored activities” are campus events that involve off-campus individuals or groups and have direct programmatic relationships with College departments that agree to sponsor the events. To sponsor an event, a department needs to:

7a. Obtain event approval, as noted in section D., below.

7b. Provide staff member(s) to plan and implement the proposed event with internal resource providers, as well as for hands-on oversight for the duration of the event.

7c. Submit the Request for Event Services to Initiate timely communication among campus resource departments and individuals who will be affected by, or required to support the event. Provide an IDC account number for any fiscal responsibility and/or unpaid fees related to the event.

7d. Comply with relevant College events scheduling and space use policies and procedures.

Individual College employees (including faculty members who wish to sponsor an event other than the types of events described above as category 1 or 3), students and alumni who wish to schedule a campus event need either to receive sponsorship from a College department or channel their requests as “External activities”, as noted below.

8. “External activities” are campus events:

8a. For groups and individuals that exist primarily outside of the organizational structure of the College; or

8b. Whose proposed events do not have direct programmatic relationships with College departments; or

8c. That do not meet the definition of one of the seven categories described above.

Space/meeting/event reservations for external activities should be channeled through the appropriate office:

Conferences, Meetings, Filming: conference@oxy.edu
Athletic Facilities: cvallembois@oxy.edu
Catering and Private Social Events: celebrations@oxy.edu
Performing Arts Facilities: brianf@oxy.edu
Oxy Arts on York: myesayan@oxy.edu
All Other: conference@oxy.edu

External event clients must follow all relevant College policies and procedures, sign a College contract, provide event insurance coverage as defined by the Office of Risk Management, and pay fees as determined by the contracting office.

C. Requesting Space and Scheduling Events

Students: Student Events must be registered through the Student Leadership, Involvement & Community Engagement (SLICE) office. A representative from SLICE will request the space through the Master Calendar.

Internal Space Reservations fall into two categories:

  1. Internal Events for students, faculty and/or staff: Participants consist of Oxy students, faculty and/or staff - but a guest or two is okay. All faculty and staff may request space in 25Live.

  2. All Other Events: Other internal and sponsored (defined as a collaboration with an external entity) events must be pre-approved by at least one of the following;

    1. CEAC (Campus Events Advisory Committee, ℅ Celia Ruiz cruiz@oxy.edu )

    2. Office of the Dean of the College (℅ Liz Boyd boyde@oxy.edu )

    3. Office of the President (℅ Laura Crescenzo crescenzo@oxy.edu )

Recurring events do not need renewed approval unless the event presents new or challenging circumstances (e.g., large audiences, catering, alcohol, security, significant parking needs):

Caution: Space/event reservations without prior approval are subject to space/event cancellation by the College at any time.

D. Event Approval:

Review the Event Planning Resources web page. This contains helpful information about planning events to comply with various legal and College requirements.

CEAC: Review by CEAC is the most expedient way to receive College approval and ensure that your event is compliant with College policies. CEAC meets on Tuesdays over the noon hour; weekly during the academic year, and monthly during the summer. Plan to visit 4-6 weeks in advance for major events, and a minimum of 3 weeks in advance for smaller events. This allows the resource departments represented on CEAC enough time to assist with event needs. To schedule a 15 minute appointment with CEAC, contact committee chair Celia Ruiz cruiz@oxy.edu.

Dean of the College: For academic affairs-related events, requestors may work with CEAC and/or the Dean’s Office. Contact Liz Boyd, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs: boyde@oxy.edu.

Office of the President: For high profile or new campus-wide events contact Laura Crescenzo, Associate Director of College Events, Office of the President: crescenzo@oxy.edu.

E. Master Calendar Office

Only the Master Calendar Office can provide institutionally binding confirmation of facility space reservations, except for the scheduling of classes.

F. Non-Profit Status

To maintain its non-profit status, Occidental must prohibit any use of its facilities by external groups or individuals that would constitute an Occidental College endorsement of a political candidate, or a religious, partisan or political position.

G. Right to Relocate, Reschedule, or Cancel

Previously approved space reservations will not be routinely relocated if a higher priority category request is submitted for the same space. The Master Calendar Office will present appropriate, available space alternative(s) to the higher priority category group. Nevertheless, on occasion, relocation is the best alternative, and the College reserves the right to do so. Relocation of events from previously approved locations can happen for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to: maximizing room/space capacity, timing for furniture and media equipment set-up(s), proximity of spaces to higher priority events, turn around times with catering orders, sound and noise bleeding conflicts, privacy concerns for confidential matters, exceeding maximum capacity of campus resources such as parking, crowd control and large group sizes, limited staffing to support competing events, etc.

Occidental College reserves the right to cancel an event if the event or those responsible for it do not comply with relevant Occidental College policies and procedures, or the directions of College officials, including Campus Safety Officers, if the event would create an unreasonable risk or potential for liability for the College, or if Occidental College or outside governmental officials cannot ensure the safety of students, faculty, staff members or visitors in relation to an event. These cancellation criteria are evaluated at the sole discretion of Occidental College officials and may be applied without prior written or verbal notice to any event, including an event that is in progress.

Occidental College reserves the right to cancel an external event if fees are not paid according to deadlines identified in the College Contract.

Every reasonable effort will be made to provide facilities and services as approved through the Office of Master Calendar. However, circumstances may create the need for Occidental College to relocate, reschedule, or cancel an approved event with or without prior verbal or written notice, and at the sole discretion and judgment of Occidental College officials. Circumstances which might require event cancellation include but are not limited to natural disasters, war or threat of terrorism, inability to provide approved services for reasons outside the College's reasonable control, or as the result of College priorities as defined in this policy. The Office of Master Calendar will make every reasonable effort to notify affected parties in as timely a fashion as is practically possible under the circumstances existing at the time of the decision. The Office of Master Calendar will make every reasonable effort to find an alternative location, or to reschedule a previously scheduled event into the same location on an alternative date.

As a condition of scheduling approved events, parties accept the possibility that their activity could be relocated, rescheduled, or canceled with little or no notice, and agree that Occidental College will not bear financial or other responsibilities due to this policy.