College Student

Involvement
Policies and
Procedures

Office of Student
Involvement
Fall 2014 Survey Results

Clarify. Communicate.
Collaborate.
In the spring 2014, Graduate Assistant Tyler Sanders was
tasked with completing a needs assessment of student
organizations and the Office of Student Involvement (OSI)
at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Through
the use of interviews, surveys, and observations,
reoccurring issues were gathered into a needs
assessment for the department. Following the
assessment, there were areas in which OSI wanted
analyze how other Carnegie Classified colleges were
completing some tasks within their offices.
Office of Student Involvement
Acting as the survey collecting party in this survey, the
Kalamazoo College Office of Student Involvement is
comprised of two professional staff members, two
graduate assistant staff members, and a team of student
interns that assist in the completion of various activities
through the office. The mission of the office is to provide
opportunities for learning, personal growth, selfexploration, and leadership development of students
through participation in student organization, student
government, and related activities. As posted on the
Office of Student Involvement webpage, the office hopes
to meet the following objectives:
Providing an opportunity for creative expression, social
interaction, and active participation in aspects of college life
outside of the classroom.
Understanding that student input, opinion, and action are
essential components for the success of each student
organization and every campus activity.

 Encouraging each student's involvement on campus, as this

adds to the educational gains and personal development of
students.

Method
To collect the data requested from OSI, this survey was
created with every topic covered that was recognized as
an area for improvement during the original needs
assessment. While there are some questions that were
removed due to length, the remaining survey questions
were those that were relevant at Kalamazoo College and
also topics that could possibly be changed or restricted
for a colleges strategic plan. Additionally, resources and
niche contact information were requested for topics were
specifically needing further information than could be
gathered in a survey.
This Google Form survey was created with each area of
research contained on its own page. If an office did not
engage in activity to the related set of questions, the
survey would take the survey participants to the next set
of questions. With 11 sets of questions, there was an
approximately 72.7% participation overall sets of
questions distributed (Note: Student Purchasing, Dealing
with Unknown, and Policy Distribution were required
question sets for each participant.) Question sets can be
referred to in Appendix A.
Using the Carnegie Classification website, a list of 50
colleges and universities were put together based on size
and type. After creating this list, the survey creator
researched out to each institutions student involvement
or student activities office through their college and
university website. Navigating each site, one or two
contacts were collected into a list based on positional

duties and office structure. These individuals received

multiple emails requesting participation in the survey
through the months of October and November. As of
November 20, 2014 eleven participants had completed
the survey.
The following will be brief analysis of the results of the
survey discussed by topic area followed by
recommendations made after the analysis. Actually
survey results and answers are included in Appendix B.
Strengths and Limitations
Although the research only contains 22% of the target
population, there was data that provided significant
information to be used in offices with similar boundaries.
This data collectively provides a reach of the environment
on a small scale and gives guidance on areas of
improvement within programs. It is important to
continually assess the practices of the office and looking
over these survey results, offices can come up with new
strategies to try and improve the efficiency and
effectiveness in their home office. The outcome of
sharing this information is completed as this information
is sent to all involved participants.
While this survey provided a bevy of information
associated to various topics, there were limitations to the
results that have been provided. Firstly, as discussed
above, there was a majority of institutions who were
unable to complete the survey. In correspondence with
these individuals a number of reasons were provided, but
the most common related to limitations of time and staff.
With these limitations, these offices could not be
represented. In one case, the office only had one

professional staff member who could have completed the

survey, but this could not be seen as a primary task.
Finally, one question has been omitted from the results of
this survey. After analyzing the data, it appeared that the
results were not reliable or relevant to said question. In
looking over the Google Form for the survey, it was found
that the path for the question took participants to the
wrong question. Therefore participants were answering
the question in relation to a different topic.

Analysis of Survey Results

Institution and Survey Participation

The eleven institutions included in these results

include: Barnard College, Bates College, Centre College,
College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University,
Denison University, Gustavus Adolphus College, Hamilton
College, Juniata College, Ohio Wesleyan University, Saint
Mary's College and St. Olaf College. These institutions, all
within the Midwest or the Northeast, represent a similar
population to conduct comparison. Each survey was
completed by an individual in a different position which
provides a depth of response, recognizing that these
positions could be similar, but with different titles.
Student Involvement/Activities Staffing
As discussed previously, the structure of each
department is very different and unique to the setting of
the institution. While there may be various reasons that
this could be occurring, it is important to recognize that
these structures are working together successfully. For
example, one survey participant is working with eight
professionals, no para-professionals, and staffs six
student employees. Assumed success, another institution

has only one professional, two para-professionals, and

one student employee. On average, the institutions
represented in this data set exist with 2.7 professional
staff members, 1.31 para-professional staff members,
and 14.45 student employees. We can use this data to
track a comparison of office staff. It is important to
recognize that campus structure and organization is
unique to the culture of the institution and relies on
sources not recognized in this research.

Organization Registration
Approval Processes
Among survey participants, 10 were responsible with
organization registration. This topic is very prevalent on
campuses as funding and other institutional concerns are
decided based on this being done correctly or in a certain
way by an organization. One resource that is being used
by two reporting institutions is OrgSync, a database that
is created for higher education purposes. The website
says OrgSync creates an online community for campus
that helps departments, programs, and all member-based
organizations streamline processes and drive
engagement. The platform reflects your institutions
unique structure and helps you connect and engage with
the populations you serve, improves information sharing,
minimizes paper usage, tracks co-curricular involvement,
and allows you to generate reports on all data collected
for annual reports and accreditation. Those who used
OrgSync seemed to be happy with their experience with
the program. More information can be found on OrgSyncs
website at http://www.orgsync.com/.
Two processes were used by the reporting
participants: student organization approval and office
application approval. Registration is part of student

involvement and activities offices to help determine what

services are provided within the office and to share these
organizations with incoming students. The first approval
process by different student organizations on campus is
done by four different institutions in this survey. In each
case the student organization received this as a
responsibility for a specific reason or to be part of an
additional approval process (budget, college registration,
etc.). These student organizations create committees or
are part of councils that have created processes to verify
the registration process for these organizations. On the
other side of the spectrum is some offices keep
registration maintained within the office itself. In both
cases, student organizations are required to fill out
application yearly to determine rights for the
organization.
Requirements
As previously stated, student organization applications
must be turned into the supervising authority. To be
verified as a student organization, each individual
institution has certain requirements. The most common of
these requirements are an advisor(s), required number of
members, required positions, a constitution, and required
attendance at workshops. Some institutions require one
or two advisor, often university employees, to have a
trained professional of the institution to assist in liability
issues and other centralized efforts of the university.
Additionally, institutions require a certain number of
members to be interested in creating an organization and
to remain active. In most cases, required positions
include a president and treasurer position. The president
position is often necessary as a contact person for the
organization and liaison for the department. Treasurer
positions are required as a liaison for the individuals who

are responsible for budgeting with student organizations

whether this is maintain by an activities office or a
student government. At a majority of the institutions, a
constitution is required as part of the application process
to guarantee that the mission of the organization aligns
with that of the institution. Some institutions, offices, and
committees will review these constitutions and return
them for edits before their approval. Other requirements
such as required trainings, contracts, waivers, and others
are dependent on the college and office.
Organization Tiers
One surveyed institution provided a tier system that is
used for organization registration. While this is not a
common practice for institutions in this survey, this
institution is able to recognize these organizations
separately dependent on the how active the organization
is on campus and its ability to continue to be in good
standing with the institution for a certain period of time.
Below is the description of this form of registration.
For Stage 1 recognition, new clubs must have an
executive board and constitution and demonstrate that
they have been active for at least two semesters. They
must also present a list of at least 10 students who are
interested or have participated in their activities. Stage
1 clubs that have been active for at least two full
semesters can apply for Stage 2 recognition. Only
Stage 2 clubs receive and allocation from student
activities fees.

Additional Resources can be found at:

http://www.csbsju.edu/sald/clubs/club-recognitionprocess
http://issuu.com/denisonuniversity/docs/campusorgh
andbook

Room Reservations

While only five participating offices are responsible

for room reservations, all student involvement offices
must be able to negotiate this landscape as we find
locations for office and student events or meetings.
Looking at the results of these five offices, there is a
commonality in there not being a perfect system for
completing this task currently. What can be taken away
from this is that there are several different programs that
colleges have tried to use, but have not been one
hundred percent successful. These will not be listed, but
can be referenced in detail in Appendix B. However,
some institutions have been successful in creating an in
house systems or finding an open source program that
can be used for this. One participant was successful in
using the Booked program and more information can be
found at https://www.bookedscheduler.com/.
Overall of the different systems, there seemed to be
success or accessibility issues that could be related to the
centralization or user capabilities associated with the
different processes. With multiple reserving locations on
campus, students can become very confused on how to
and where to set up room reservations. By putting all of
these services in one location, there would be one
process and location for students, staff, and faculty to go
to for this specific issue. Centralizing room reservations
increases the main focus of room reservation which is
creating a user friendly system. If the system is too
complicated or not something students use on a daily
basis, room reservations can often become a hassle for
the users. If individuals are not able to reserve rooms,
then the office responsible for said rooms is not being
effective in their use of the space.

Liability and Risk Management

Only 4 survey participating institutions were
responsible for liability and risk management out of their
offices. While campus safety processed these liabilities at
one institution, a majority of student involvement and
activities offices are responsible for processing waivers
for events and or organizations. As offices that can work
with a large populations of students, it is important for
student involvement and activities to be knowledgeable
of the campus protocols when it comes to risk
assessment and management.
Waivers for Membership and Participation
Although not every institution is responsible for liability
and risk management, in most cases a process must be
completed in the office to protect students and the
university. Each college did this in a different way.
According to the data, some colleges were proactive in
their efforts such as making each involved student fill out
a participation agreement that covers most liabilities that
the student could face during the average year. While this
is a proactive approach to situations that may arise, two
institutions mentioned having students meet with staff
and advisors to discuss the events prior to its
implementation to try and catch any liabilities that may
occur. Another more passive approach to this is seen as
one institution required student to fill out event forms
prior to its completion that would be reviewed to try and
assess the risk.
While these efforts were attempts to trying to catch the
liability issues that may occur, survey participants
recognized their relationship with the risk management
individual at their institution. In some cases, institutions
discussed that risk management may not hear about the

event until the day before and thus solutions must be

forced without much discussion between the individuals
involved. Every participating office communicated with
risk management in a different way ranging from closely
working with the individual to only reaching out to them
when a problem arises. In some cases this individual is
able to create the forms or processes that will assist in
making the organizations event successful and safe. The
assumption of risk can be very complex, but with the
assistance of a risk management individual, they can
decipher the risk within an event or organization.
Additionally, survey participants discussed risk that is
associated with outside performers and services. During
the time when outside vendors are on campus or
interacting with the student population, it is important to
establish policies and procedures in working with these
individuals. While some of these providers come with
contracts that they have created, others will required the
institution to create the forms and processes associated
with organization and event.

Travel and Rentals

Of the eleven survey participants, nine institutions allow
students to use university vehicles. From those nine
institutions, only three require students to use university
vehicles with contract agreements with travel companies
also being potential requirement for student group travel.
Rates and Charges
According to the responding institutions, below are the
rates or charges associated with rental services:

 Gasoline Charges
When analyzing rental vehicles from colleges campuses,
one of the constant questions is how students and
advisors will pay for the gasoline on the trip. The most
common policy, seen at over 50% of the campuses
surveyed was the department whom was renting out the
cars would also give the individual a credit card
associated with said vehicle when they picked up the
keys. This department would then either include this as
part of their daily/mileage rate or would charge this
amount to the student organization that was renting the
vehicle. While this puts the responsibility into the hands
of the car renter, this can be the most effective system
for handling all of the transactions that could be occurring
with the fleet of vehicles. Another common, but more
taxing approach is seen in the reimbursement process.
With this process, students or student organizations have
to turn in all receipts and fill out the proper paper work to
make sure that the correct individual or organization
receives the reimbursement.

Student Purchasing

 Procurement Cards
Depending on the size of the institution, a student
involvement office can see hundreds of student
organizations and events annually that need a form of
funding. This can be a very time and effort consuming
task for an office. Some schools centralize the process,
making any purchase have to be completed by a
university employee or down directly in the office. In
some cases student have to submit lists or schedule a
meeting with an individual in the office to order items.
This system gives more regulation to the office and
requires each purchase to be approved by trained staff
members.
Of the eleven schools surveyed, five currently allow
student to have procurement cards for which they can
use for purchasing for their student organization. There
are certain rules associated with this to try and regulate
the usage of these cards. One institution required that the
funding center had a certain amount in its budge before it
was allowed to have a card for spending. Other
institutions had cards that were available for check out
from the office that could be used for purchasing. Another
student accessible approach was seen at an institution
which granted each student organization treasurer with a
procurement card. In several of these cases and
something to be noted, is that these students are
required to go through a training before they are able to
have or rent these cards in the majority of cases.
Cash, Check, Purchase Orders, Reimbursement
While procurement cards are common practice from the
majority of the institutions surveyed, there are
institutions and situations where cash, check, or purchase
orders can be used. In the case of cash, students and

employees are allowed to purchase products with

personal money with the idea in mind that by turning in a
receipt and filling out the proper paperwork, they will be
reimbursed. Some institutions also have petty cash boxes
in which they can give students the funds to cover certain
purchases. Checks and purchase orders can be created
for specific occasions and locations that the office can
prepare documents to assist students in spending.
Implications for Incorrect Practices
With these processes and policies being created to be
accessible for student and organization use, the chance
of improper protocol is still there. With cash transactions
and other situations, students often are not able to
receive tax exemption for the institution. While this case
does not have negative implications, student also can
have more reactionary problems that occur. Each
institution has its own way of handling these issues, but
the most common issues that arise are the loss of a
procurement card or purchase receipts. Without these
documents, the department can gain great loss or face
auditing problems. When students lose such items the
organization or student can receive warnings or lose their
rights to the practices. The student is often the individual
who is liable for the expenses that have already been
charged without documentation. Organizations can also
be put on probation, have their accounts frozen, or be
subject to investigation or audit because of incorrect
purchasing practices. One institution charges
organizations fines for late or overwork or returning of
procurement cards.
Additional Contact Information:
Jessica R. Mumford, 814-641-3331
JoNes VanHecke, jvanheck@gustavus.edu

Noelle Niznik, Assistant Director of Student Activities,

315-859-4194
Kendrick Durham, kendrick.durham@centre.edu
Kris Vatter, vatter@stolaf.edu
Ashley Bartreau, DCGA Finance Chair,
bartre_a1@denison.edu

Demonstrations/Freedom of Speech
With this topic becoming more prevalent on all college
campuses, it is important to discuss what colleges and
universities are doing to allow for advocacy, but also
support institutional privacy. While four offices involved in
this survey were responsible for free speech and
demonstrations, other offices that were recognized were
the Associate Dean for Equity, Collective Responsibility,
Dean of Students, Public Safety, and the Vice President of
Student Affairs.
Approval Requirements
Two of the eleven participants in this survey do not allow
campus demonstrations by outside organizations by any
party at any time. Those who do allow for demonstrations
to occur and are responsible for such incidents have
developed guidelines that have to be met for such events
to occur on campus. A similar requirement between
policy creators, is that demonstrations must follow all
policies outlined in the student code. That being said, one
institution does not outline any further guidelines than
what has been laid out in their code or student handbook.
Other institutions have outlined steps requesting
information such as location, demonstration purpose, and
insurance information to be approved before the event
can occur.
Demonstration Policies

In addition to requesting approval, institutions set up

various guidelines to improve safety and equity for the
student population in terms of these demonstrations. A
common practice is that demonstrations can only held in
public college spaces. A demonstration should not
interrupt or take away from the educational process that
is occurring on campus and students should not be
required to bare information if they do not want to.
Institutions also include procedures for organizations
wishing to demonstrate must follow all campus policies
and cannot damage a campus properties or grounds.
A final policy that was brought up in this research is the
equality given to various parties wishing to speak on
campus. Depending on the demographic, the institution
must grant equal opportunities for political parties,
religion, and etc.

Inclusivity/Diversity Training
Courses and Trainings
Six of eleven institutions included in this research have
become active in creating or providing courses or training
based on inclusivity and diversity. This issue has been
pressed as students have actively engaged in
conversations about diversity recently and thus recognize
a need to equality for all students. Institutions discussed
their relationship with multicultural, intercultural, and
international student service offices along with
community organizations as resources for assisting and
training students or putting on programs to assist
students in having the harder conversations.
One strategic plan that institutions have taken is to add
diversity training into first year experience curriculum.
Whether diversity and inclusion is focused on during fall

welcome programming, as a part of the first year

experience class, or simply program efforts geared
toward this population, college have taken an interest in
educating these student as soon as they get to campus.
In addition, courses and seminars are held for student
organization leaders that spark dialogue between
different groups. Even if this is not something that is
preplanned, recognizing issues that arise on campus and
being able to provide this resource upon request is a
benefit.

Policy Sharing
Ways and Means
Digital and online presence was the way that most of the
surveyed institutions are giving out their policies and
procedures to their student population. With students
being connected more than ever, offices have reacted
with making manuals and policy books accessible through
their website on college intranets. At the beginning of the
semester, institutions will also send emails to student
organization members and also provide policy books in
hard copy at check in. In addition to all of these policies
being provided to the students, institutions take
additional efforts such as providing leadership trainings,
policy workshops, organization orientation, and other
programs that assist students in understanding the policy
and answering questions about the policy and
procedures.
Reception
Upon to reviewing their policies, institutions were asked
to rate the reception of these policies according to three
different population. On a scale of ten, advisor reception
of the policy was a 7.45. This is a relatively average
expectation for advisors to be knowledgeable, but is also

interesting as advisors are often the individuals that

students report to with questions. It would seem that this
number should be the highest as these individuals are
required often to act as a resource for the student
population.
Looking at the student population, student leaders
reported an average reception of an 8.00 and nonstudent leaders a 7.36. The student leader reception
shows that these students are the most aware of the
policy or are able to research the policies of the college.
While all of the reported receptions are relevantly similar,
this shows that there is room for improvement, but that
things are going well. Not following these policies goes
through conduct and disciplinary process of the specific
institution that allows for educational moments to try and
improve the quality of the experience. It is important for
students to be able to access these policies by
themselves through one of the various access points
developed by the institution.

Dealing with the Unknown

Processes
According to the research, a majority of institutions are
seeing incidents where there is not a policy or procedure
prepared once a semester or quarter. With this being a
continuous issue with these Carnegie Classification
schools, every institution has different ways to handle
what actions to take from there. Some go directly to the
director or top agent to make a decision about the
incident. Often these cases need to be solved
immediately and staff must balance between student
interest and student safety. The best practice for offices is
for the staff to have a meeting where experiences and

resources can be brought together to look at the risk and

handle the situation immediately.
Justification
A common question asked by students following one of
these incidents is what the justification behind the
decision was. The common response upon institutions
was that they had to make the decision that was right for
the policies that were in place, reduced risk, but also had
the best intentions of the students in mind. Whether this
was talking to legal or finding precedents to the
decisions, an institution must be able to answer the
question that the students ask about policy and decision
making. Following these types of situations, numerous
institutions discussed the move to create a policy around
the previously unknown situation that may arise in the
future.

Additional Information
With niche responsibilities within small college
involvement and activities offices, below are additional
individuals who can be contacted to discuss the role in
the office.
Newspaper/ Media Organizations Additional
Contact Information:
Glenn Kranking, kranking@gac.edu
Lisa Magnarelli, lmagnare@hamilton.edu
Kendrick Durham, kendrick.durham@centre.edu
Allie Colina, colinaa@denison.edu
Club Sports Organizations Additional Contact
Information:
Jessica R. Mumford, 814-641-3331
Mona Spalsbury, mkspalsb@owu.edu
Kendrick Durham, kendrick.durham@centre.edu

Christ Rotty, rotty@stolaf.edu

Lynn Schweizer, schweizer@denison.edu

Recommendations
When this research tool was created, the intent was not
to guide professionals, but was to provide offices with a
collaborative and comprehensive analysis of a few of the
daily functions of a student involvement or activity office.
While limitations can negate offices from being similar,
the following recommendations are provided as
opportunities for an institution to improve practices
according to the research findings.
Institutional Individualization
In looking at the results there are multiple occasions
where a practice is unique to a specific institution, but not
a common practice at other institutions. This is not
necessarily a weakness or area for improvement, but
promoted the idea of that every individual institution is
unique in its own right. As an office, it is important to be
able to recognize what is unique due to success versus
that of common practice. It is not to be said that every
traditional process should be challenged, but in looking
over the common practice and research provided here it
is important to understand the intentionality behind the
process. If you are an outlier is it for the betterment of
the students or simply institutional bureaucracy. Value the
unique characteristics of your institution, but question the
status quo.
Student/User Friendly Promotions
After analyzing each topic individually and then on a full
survey scale, one point of commonality was focused on
creating ways that students could access the office and
services more efficiently. There was not an office that felt
that everything they did was perfect and this reflects the
room for improvement. An example is seen as policy

books have gone digital, but there is still noise that blocks
the information from the students. Finding ways to
remove middle agents and create a direct link between
students and the source is very important. If students are
unable to access the services your office provides some
changes must be made and an assessment should be
done. This issue also was relevant in any programming
software used for liabilities, organization registration,
room reservation, or the like. If students were unable to
navigate these site on the first try, there were most likely
not going to suggest this service to others or even be a
returning user. A method for testing your sources is to
have student leaders navigate your website or other
programs with predetermined task and ask for feedback
about the experience. This could be done in survey or
focus group format, but would give insight to the
strengths and weaknesses of current procedures.

Corrective and Practical Strategies

According to the policies that were shared in this survey,
only 85% of the liabilities were covered with the list of
efforts that are taken by the various offices. Similarly,
each office is facing a previously unknown issue at least
once a semester. With these uncontrollable variables
effecting some of the functioning of the office it is
important that each staff has a proper strategy for
handling these situations professionally without creating
student concern. Higher education issues seen in the
media or that receive more stress than necessary are
those that are not handled in a timely manner because a
strategic plan had to be created in the moment before
conversations could move forward. Being able to

recognize who makes liability and other important

decisions and the process in which these decisions will be
made are very important to student, staff, and faculty
satisfaction and will also promote successful and peaceful
solutions.
Student Trust and Responsibility
Previously discussed limitations bring forward a common
theme through a majority of the offices services and
responsibility. Being able to evaluate the student
demographic and that amount of trust that can be given
to them is highly important. As you look over the results
above, institutions that were giving students authority
and making them responsible were highly successful in
different areas. An example of this is seen student
purchasing as institutions that allowed students to do
purchasing were able to not only use this time to
complete other tasks, but the student also gained
experience with budgeting responsibility. By becoming
less centralized, an office can delegate efforts to the
students and their organizations allowing them to feel like
they have had a hand in decision making. For some
institutions this process may seem more risky, but in
looking over some of the policies that are put in place to
guarantee success it is found that institutions are able to
hold students accountable. No institution noted large
issues with students gaining responsibility, but did
recommend the creation of policies that still require
approval and continued maintenance of systems.
Continued Collaboration
Finally, it cannot be stressed more that this is just a
starting point in collaborating with other institutions to
create better practices and campuses. Partaking in this

survey you have been able to gather information on a

variety of topics from different institutions. Even if these
results do not lead to a change in your office, the hope is
that a reader would be able to think about the
intentionality behind processes and question or assess
current practices. This should not be the last time that
you work with other institutions in comparing the
practices of office. If one office has seen the problem,
there is a great chance that others have also had to
handle similar situations. These survey could be
elaborated on into an immense amount of knowledge, but
is only a kick start to the discussion. Contact information
for various topics have been included in this survey as a
chance to create networks and discuss issues or more
specific questions in further detail.

Appendix A

College Student Involvement Policies and

Procedures Survey
Progress in the field of student affairs is dependent on sharing knowledge and information.
This survey was created with the intent of gathering and sharing the findings of 50 similar
Carnegie Classified colleges' policies and procedures relevant to student involvement and
the work done in these offices. This survey recognizes that each office is unique. If the
question is not relevant to your area please feel free to share which office is and any further
information you wish to share. Your time and information are valued and appreciated!
Institution Name
Institution Office Name
Survey Representative
Name and Title
Email Address/es
To receive detailed report after completion of research
Number of Professional Staff Employees Hired into Office
Number of Para-Professional Staff Employees Hired into Office
Number of Student Employees Hired into Office

Links, Attachments, and Additional Information

If at anytime you have a link to share or supporting document that you feel should be
attached with your answers please sent them to tsanders@kzoo.edu. Thank you!

Organization Registration
1. What criteria must be met for student organizations to be recognized or
receive rights out of your office?
3. Rate the accessibility of this process
1

Not Accessible
5. If necessary, elaborate on your responses above.

Room Reservations

5
Accessible

1. What is the process for reserving rooms that your office has ownership of
(conference rooms, multiple purpose rooms, etc.)
2. If using a technological outlet, please share what that is and whom is in charge of
daily maintenance of site.
4. Rate the success of the system
1

10

Unsuccessful

Successful

6. Rate the accessibility of the system for students

1

Non-Accessible

10
Accessible

8. Would you recommend this system to other institutions?

1

Would Not Recommend

Would Recommend

10.If necessary, elaborate on your responses above.

11.What office handles liability and risk management for events and student
organizations?
Ex. Waivers, Legal paperwork, contracts, etc.
o
Home Office
o

Other:

Does your office process waivers for events or organizations?

o
Events and Organizations
o

Primarily Events

Primarily Organizations

Other:

What process do students follow when planning events that may lead to an
assumption of risk within the university?
(ie. Liability waivers, forms, agreements)
What percent of liabilities are covered under this process?

0% None

Travel and Rentals

Are students eligible to use university vehicles?
o
Yes
o

No

Other:

Are students required to use university vehicles for travel associated with
the college?
o
Yes
o

No

Other:

What are the rates or charges associated with these rentals?

How do students pay for gasoline when using a rental?
Gas cards, reimbursements, etc.

Student Purchasing

Please explain your process for purchasing supplies for student

organizations and events.
Who within your organization, including students, have access to spending/credit
cards? How do they receive access?
What are the implications for incorrect practice of these policies when it
comes to student use?
If there is an individual who would be willing to talk more about this issue,
please provide contact information:

Demonstrations/Freedom of Speech
According to your current policies what is the process for approving
demonstrations (by individuals/organization from inside or outside the
campus community).

What are they allowed to do? Where can they do it? How is this message
shared with these individuals?

10

Inclusivity/Diversity Training
What forms of inclusion and diversity training opportunities are provided to
student organization leaders and members?
What services or groups assist in providing these training opportunities?

Policy Sharing
How do you distribute or share your office policies and/or give access to
your policies to students?
Rank how receptive advisors are to this system
1

10

Not Receptive

Receptive

Rank how receptive student organization leaders are to this system

1

10

Not Receptive

Receptive

Rank how receptive average students are to this system

1

Not Receptive

10

Receptive

How do you process disciplinary issues when policies are questioned or not
followed?

Dealing with the Unknown

What is your offices protocol for handling situations that arise where there
is not a policy in place?
Approximately how often does this occur?
o
Once a year
o

Once a semester/quarter

Once a month

Once a week

Once a day

Other:

How do you justify decisions that are made without a policy in place?

Newspaper/Media Organizations

Is your office responsible for or house a campus newspaper or media

organizations?
o
Yes
o

No

Please provide contact information to talk to about this subject more:

Club Sports
Is your office responsible for or do you house club sports?
o
Yes
o

No

Please provide contact information to talk to about this subject more:

Additional Information

Is there any additional information that you would like to provide the
researchers that may affect the results from the information that your
institution has provided?

Appendix B
Student Involvement Policies and Procedures-Results as of 11/20/14
Institutions Represented:
Barnard College
Bates College
Centre College
College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University
Denison University
Gustavus Adolphus College
Hamilton College
Juniata College
Ohio Wesleyan University
Saint Mary's College
St. Olaf College
Offices Represented:
Campus Activities

Campus Leadership and Involvement Center

Dean of Students
Student Activities and Buntrock Commons
Student Activities and Leadership Development
Student Activities-3
Student Involvement-2
Student Life
Positions Completing Survey:
Assistant Dean of Students
Assistant Director for Student Involvement
Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs
Associate Dean for Student Life
Associate Dean of Students for Student Engagement
Director of Campus Activities
Director of Student Activities and Leadership
Director of Student Activities-2
Program Coordinator
Vice President for Student Affairs
Number of Professional Staff:
1 individual
2 individuals-5
3 individuals -2
4 individuals
8 individuals
.83
Number of Para-Professional Staff:
No Response
0 individuals-2
1 individuals -4
2 individuals -1
3 individuals-2
2.49
Number of Student Employees:
1 individual
4 individuals
6 individuals
8 individuals-2
9 individuals
10 individuals-2
15 individuals
28 individuals
60 individuals

Organization Registration
Offices Involvement with Organization Registration:
Yes-10
No-1
Criteria for Organization Registration + Associated Rating for Accessibility + Additional Comments

They must be approved by the Organization Review Board, a student group that is part of our
Student Govt.
o 5/5

"Our office works with student government in the approval of clubs. Below is a breakdown of
registration:
1. Application submitted online.
2. Office of Student Activities reviews from a liability perspective (every year).
3. Forward to Student Government.
4. Student Government Accountability Board reviews.
5. Clubs must have the following: current faculty/staff advisor, 10 members of the club
including a president and treasurer, completed thorough application.
6. Student Government approves/denies accordingly.
7. Notifies the club.
8. Appropriate presidents' and treasurers' trainings are scheduled."
o 5/5

"Keep Org Sync profile up to date (checked each semester)

Attend on campus leadership conference (once each semester)
By laws up to date (update every other year)
Attend funding related workshops, as requested (usually once/semester)"
o 4/5

"Submit a constitution
Complete the yearly paperwork"
o 5/5

The must complete an online registration link (created and maintained by our in-house web
services) that includes basic contact information, a roster and an electronic copy of their
constitution.
o 5/5

Org Sync used at this institution

Mission statement, at least 10 students to be recognized, constitution, advisor, follow

university policy, comply to Joint Club Board
o 4/5

Student clubs are recognized by a governing board, which is advised through Student Life. For
Stage 1 recognition, new clubs must have an executive board and constitution and
demonstrate that they have been active for at least two semesters. They must also present a
list of at least 10 students who are interested or have participated in their activities. Stage 1
clubs that have been active for at least two full semesters can apply for Stage 2 recognition.
Only Stage 2 clubs receive and allocation from student activities fees.
o 5/5
o Our policies, procedures, and information are accessible via SharePoint Intranet. We
regularly send out information to clubs and organizations to register and provide inperson assistance, as well as, in-depth online documentation via Intranet.

Current constitution and membership list on file, and an active advisor. Re-registration is
required each year to update these files.
o 5/5

Interested groups of at least 5 students must submit a constitution to the Student

Organizations Committee of the Student Government Association. Constitution must show
club aligns with non-discriminatory statement of the college.
o 5/5

Purpose and mission in alignment to university, and advisor, and a constitution

o 5/5

Additional Resources found at:

http://www.csbsju.edu/sald/clubs/club-recognition-process

http://issuu.com/denisonuniversity/docs/campusorghandbook

Room Reservations
Offices Involvement with Room Reservations:
Yes-5
No-6
Room Reservation processes:
"Our school has an in-house system called Event Scheduler. There are 3 people that have access to
the system for final approval: Conferences & Events, Registrar's Office, and Athletics because of (1)
general event space, (2) classroom space, and (3) athletic space.
Our office reserves spaces for clubs because we have a weekly meeting with conferences and evens,
A/V, public safety, catering, etc. to review events for a 2 week time period. We used to let the clubs
schedule their own space but there were many times that they did not enter the information correctly
or information was missing. It was also hard for the clubs to respond to emails so events were
cancelled since conferences & events didn't hear from them. All clubs are supposed to meet with our
office and we meet for 10 - 15 mins, or longer if needed, to review all of their event needs and answer
any questions. Clubs are allowed to put in their own time for practice and general meetings. These
usually don't require much event sent up."

Rate of Success of System: 8/10

Rate of accessibility for students: 8/10

Recommendation to Others (1-Not Recommended & 5-Recommended): 5/5

Additional Comments: The only problem that we have with the system is when people from the
campus community don't put their events in the system. For instance, the artist series events
aren't in the system, but then we're supposed to schedule around their events or not have
events occurring at the same time. Other than that, the system works fairly well.

Ad Astra (or "Ad disastra') and maintained by student center manager, who is in our office

Rate of Success of System: 4/10

Rate of accessibility for students: 4/10

Recommendation to Others (1-Not Recommended & 5-Recommended): 2/5

Even though there are different offices responsible for scheduling different buildings/spaces on
campus, we use 25Live as a central scheduling system. All reservations are entered through 25Live
and then routed to the appropriate scheduling offices.

Rate of Success of System: 9/10

Rate of accessibility for students:9/10

Recommendation to Others (1-Not Recommended & 5-Recommended): 5/5

Additional Comments:
We use an open source scheduling program called "Booked!" that we host on an on campus server. It
is closed to students, faculty, and staff and they must log in using their campus credentials to access
the site. Reservation requests are submitted via the site, which is similar in design to other platforms
on the market, and administrators review the requests and approve or reject.

Rate of Success of System: 9/10

Rate of accessibility for students: 10/10

Recommendation to Others (1-Not Recommended & 5-Recommended): 5/5

Additional Comments: This past year we move all on campus spaces, including classrooms, to
this service, and it has greatly simplified the reservation process.
The Reservationist for Buntrock Commons uses R25 to schedule this building. She also schedules all
(but 2) academic buildings for non-academic events.

Rate of Success of System: 6/10

Rate of accessibility for students: 5/10

Recommendation to Others (1-Not Recommended & 5-Recommended): 1/5

Additional Comments: It is not intuitive for a user. For academic events (classes) which are set
and simple, it is fine. For a complicated ballroom set up request, it is not adequate. It is not on
the college's priority list for upgrades at this time. I have to rely on an IT support person very
heavily for any improvements or suggestions. He will not make a change without running it
past a committee, and he is very busy (as is the rest of the IT staff).

Liability and Risk Management

Offices Involvement with Liability and Risk Management:

Yes-4
No-7
Does your office process waivers for events or organizations?
Primarily Events-3
Primarily Organizations-2
Events and Organizations-3
Not Associated with Either-1
Campus Safety Processes
What process do students follow when planning events that may lead to assumption of risk?

Certificates of Insurance are now required for all visiting performers at the college.

The Office of Student Activities is the first point of contact for waivers/liability. We have a
general participation agreement that all club members must sign, each school year. If there
are events with minors, transportation concerns, etc. we copy our risk management person on
the communication. This partnership works really well as we never know what a club may
want to do, so sometimes we have to create a new form or process.

They work with the Campus Activities Office

no we do not process waivers

complete the necessary forms

If necessary, our Director of Auxiliary Services will reach out to the students and ask for
additional information, waivers, etc.

Liability Waivers, Forms, Meeting w/ Security, and meeting with Student Activities and
Leadership Development staff.
Students meet with advisors to determine liability. If they travel outside of the city, each
student must complete a travel waiver form.
They must meet with someone from our office to discuss the plans for their event and we
advise them of additional steps that must be taken to host the event safely. Students usually
must sign waivers in order to participate in these events.
"It depends on when we hear about the event. If my Assistant Director or I catch it early, we
help them step-by-step. If we catch them right before the event, we scramble withholdharmless forms (at the least) and contracts.
The Camps and Conferences office works with orgs and departments that invite minors to
campus."
Student must fill out pre event forms with important details. If there is a certain risk involved
(rock climbing, paint ball) students must have all participants submit waivers to campus safety
before the event takes place.

Percent of Liabilities Covered:

50%-1
80%-4
100%-4

Travel and Rentals

Students Eligible to use university vehicles:

Yes-9
No-2
Required to use university vehicles:
Yes-3
No-6
Additional Answers: We have a small fleet of college vehicles available. To be covered under
the college's insurance, student groups would need to use a college vehicle or the vehicles rented
through Enterprise under the college's name.
Rates and Charges Associated:

Mostly free, but can be a charge if college vehicles are not available.

Here is the link to our vehicle

rates:http://www.juniata.edu/services/osa/documents/JC_Vehicle_Rental_2014-2015.pdf

Depends on the vehicle used.

$30/day plus gas

Federal mileage reimbursement - $.56 per mile, plus gas

$30-50 per day, plus milage after a certain limit.

It depends on the type of vehicle but usually around $50.

"Mini van: $.46 p/mile

12 Pass van: $.58 p/mile
$25 minimum charge. $25 no-show charge."

50 cent per mile (includes rent and gas).

How do students pay for gasoline when using a rental?

Reimbursements.

Facilities Services gives the driver a credit card (usually sheets) to buy gas with.

Gas card comes with vehicle and student group is charged a per mile rate

gas credit card with keys - University card reconciled against student organization account

Cash advance through our office or personal money which is then reimbursed

Reimbursements

There is a campus gas card in the packet they pick up when checking out the vehicle.

Credit card provided with keys. Gas charges included in mileage charges.

There is a gas card provided in each van.

Student Purchasing
Process for Purchasing:

Only college staff and faculty have college credit cards. Students can do purchase orders,
checks, or reimbursements.

"If clubs have $800.00 or more in there club account during the first semester of the school
year, clubs qualify for a purchasing card (i.e., credit card). If not, clubs will use one of the
many accounting forms to make purchases.

If clubs don't have a credit card and need to make an online purchase our office will do the
following:

For amazon, our office has a club account.

For other online purchases, the director or assistant director will make
purchases."

Student groups are allowed to access a Dean of Students credit card by working with the
Administrative Assistant in the DOS office. Students are not given a card or allowed to borrow
it

Student Involvement Office (our office) office manager purchases on a Pcard reconciled against
student orgs account

They purchase and we reimburse. For large purchases, a college employee will use their pcard.

"Only 2 of the professional staff members have credit cards. If a student needs to make a
purchase with a credit card, they come to our office and sit down with us to do it. We are in the
process of changing this procedure and hope to have 3 ""generic"" student activities cards that
can be signed out to student organizations for purchases. If they don't use the credit card, they
can request a cash advance or use their own money and be reimbursed."

Purchase Orders, Office Coordinator via Business Office Purchaser, and approval by student
sentate auditors.

Students may use the department p-card or request reimbursement.

For most organizations the students purchase out of their personal funds and are reimbursed
after filling out the proper forms and turning in receipts. For larger purchases our office can
use one of our purchasing cards.

We have about 25 credit cards available for check-out. Individuals must have attended a
Financial Training session and signed a user agreement prior to taking a card. 48 hour or
weekend Check Out.

"All students must submit budgets to the DCGA finance committee in March for the following
year. All treasurers must outline exactly what supplies/ equipment they will need and why.
They budget must provide quotes.
All treasurers have access to spending cards. They can pick up these cards from the
Purchasing office located in the administrative building.

For more info please see page 29 of the org handbook."

Implications for incorrect practice:

As long as receipts are available for properly purchased items there are no repercussions.

"For the credit card, they get one warning, and then it's taken away the second time.

For all other accounting forms, there have not been too many problems. Usually, clubs just
writing down the account number wrong. Clubs can be audited throughout the school year so it
all depends on what the auditor finds out."

Not aware of any implications

Controlled by our office so no misuse

Our most common incorrect practice is that students forget to use tax exempt forms.

Student is liable for expenses.

Denial of reimbursement, probationary status.

Possible freeze on their accounts or revocation of funds.

$1 a day fine for failure to return card on time. $10 for failure to return receipt.

Loss of organizational privileges. Please see page 8.

Additional Contact Information:

Jessica R. Mumford 814-641-3331
JoNes VanHecke, jvanheck@gustavus.edu
Noelle Niznik, Assistant Director of Student Activities, 315-859-4194
kendrick.durham@centre.edu
vatter@stolaf.edu
Ashley Bartreau, DCGA Finance Chair, bartre_a1@denison.edu

Demonstrations/Freedom of Speech
Offices responsible for free speech demonstration:
Yes-4
No-7
Other Offices responsible:
Associate Dean for Equity
Collective Responsibility
Dean of Students
None
Public Safety
Vice President of Student Affairs
Process for approving demonstrations

"For inside the campus, we kind of go by if the JC Democrats want to do something, then the
same would need to be available or offered to the JC Republicans. Sometimes, it can be a little
tricky with the religious clubs on campus but we make it work.
For any group outside of the campus, they would go through the Office of Camps, Conferences,
and Events for review, approval, meeting space, payment, and insurance."

Orderly picketing and demonstrations are allowed in public areas, may not interfere with
ingress, egress, and interrupt classes or operations or damage property.

We are a private college and do not typically allow outside groups to demonstrate on our
campus. For on campus groups we have no formal written policy other than abiding by space
reservations and general space usage policies.

There is no policy. All demonstrations are allowed by our students. Demonstrations are not
allowed from individuals or organizations outside the campus community.

Policies associated with demonstrations

Allowed to organize meetings and have presentations within their area of interest. We really
do not have any limits of where they can do this on campus; it's the availability of space. Our
office or the Office of Camps, Conferences, and Events shares this information with them.

Orderly picketing and other forms of peaceful protest in public areas on college premises or
within public areas of institutional buildings. There is a policy about this included in the Gustie
Guide, which is available to all students.

As long students are following other campus rules (quiet hours, space reservations, public
safety policies, etc) there is no restriction on demonstrations.

Inclusivity/Diversity Training
Offices providing inclusivity/diversity training:
Yes-6
No-5
What forms of training opportunities provided to student organization leaders and members?

we coordinate with the Multicultural office

Regular course open to club leaders to participate in various opportunities.

As requested

"Maura Cullen presents to the first-year class on one evening then again, the next morning for
any student leaders who are interested, and on-campus. The Multicultural Affairs office
provides various opportunities all year long.
Student Life Division provides a speaker for all 'in coming' student leaders - sga, res life,
wellness in May. Diversity and inclusion is HUGE part."

"CLIC does not provide these trainings but we oversee and advise the Leadership Fellows who
put on workshops such as LeaderShape.
CLIC also advises Sustained Dialogue which also has some trainings."

What services or groups are used to assist?

Intercultural and International Student Services Office

Policy Sharing
How do you distribute and share policies with students?

Via email and the web.

"At the beginning of every school year, we have presidents' training and review any updates to
policies and procedures, as well as what they need to do within their clubs from the college
standpoint.
We always send a recap email to the club presidents with the PowerPoint, additional documents, and
links. We also send the same or similar information to club advisors."

Policies are available in an on-line document available to all students. Students are sent an
email with a link to that document and printed copies are available for students who wish to
have a printed copy. Res. Life staff also reviews policy with residents at the beginning of each
semester. For student organizations, all orgs must send a representative to a training session
which covers policies and procedures. Advisors are informed but do not have to attend.

How to at OWU Guide - on line and handed out in hard copy to every org in September of each
year
online via org sync

"Yes, through our website and leadership training each semester.

Yes via Intranet and Email Notification and in response to information as it comes to us.

Annual training, website

All policies are written in the student handbook, and all students receive a hard copy when
they check in in the fall. If changes or campus wide problems occur students are emailed.

All online.

The Campus Organization Handbook, the Student Code of Conduct, and beginning of the year
Campus Organization Orientation sessions.

Advisor Reception to this distribution:

4-1
5-1
6-1
7-2
8-3
9-1
10-2
Student Organization Leader Reception to this distribution:
4-1
6-1
7-1
8-3
9-3
10-2
Average Student Reception to this distribution
3-1
7-4
8-4
9-2
Disciplinary Process:

Through the Dean of Student's Office

We really don't have disciplinary issues. Is something comes up, we ask the student
organization leader to come and meet with us. Usually the conversations are educational
opportunities.

Through our college conduct process.

Referred to the community standards office

Our most common sanction is declaring a group ineligible for funding.

Via our department and/or in conjunction with Residential Life Office

Meeting with adviser, possible probationary status or derecognition by governing board

The student(s) is/are called in to meet with one of our staff and discuss the situation.
Appropriate actions are taken following the meeting and any additional information gathering.

Anything requiring discipline goes through the Dean's office.

The office of Conduct and Values handles disciplinary issues not CLIC.

Dealing with the Unknown

Protocol for handling these situations:

We work together with the rest of the Dean's Staff to determine the appropriate path.

"We handle each situation case by case and just use our experience and resources to figure
out the best situation. Usually, it's a risk management issue, and we review with the risk
manager, who then takes it to HR and/or college lawyer sometimes.
Other times, it's an event, and something we've never done before on campus. We discuss
with conferences & events to see if we can make it happen."

Typically handled after consultation between the Deans (of Students) and occasionally other
are consulted, including President, appropriate cabinet members (VPs) or legal as needed.

Director's call

we decide based on the facts at play

We then try to develop a policy that makes sense.

Listening with the ear of our heart, take consul with staff members, and make decisions.

Meeting with students, develop policy as needed

We handle the situation based on what seems to be best practice and is in line with our risk
management or other related policies.

Depending on the issue, I usually sit down with the staff in that area and work through the
scenario. If it was a one-time thing, we just deal with it. If it seems like a policy is needed, we
write one and put it online.

We are guided by best practices. We are not very context driven. We like to balance student
interest with student safety. If it is something that is not harmful we will work with students to
see what can be done.

How do you justify decisions?

By doing what is right.

We basically say that we have the best intentions to make things happen on campus. We say
this because we know that all in what we do can't be covered by some policy as you never
know what will happen. We try to do our due diligence.

Common sense, consultation and policy/legal related precedence.

We base the decision on other policies or precedents and create a new policy.

The collective wisdom and conversation of the community of students and staff.

Explain process by which decision was made and factors considered in the decision

We provide evidence of how we came to our decision and discuss the decision with the
affected students.

We make the best decisions based on time, place and manner, consistent with the college
policies.

We are a flexible close knit community. We like to help our students achieve success. We also
like to work with students to create new policies. Student agency is very important to Denison.
This year in particular Dr. Adam Weinberg has focused on student governance.
How often does this occur?
Once a year-3
Once a semester/Quarter-7
Once a year-1

Newspaper/Media Contacts

Glenn Kranking, kranking@gac.edu

Lisa Magnarelli
kendrick.durham@centre.edu
Allie Colina colinaa@denison.edu

Club Sports Contacts

Jessica R. Mumford, 814-641-3331

Mona Spalsbury, mkspalsb@owu.edu
kendrick.durham@centre.edu
rotty@stolaf.edu
Lynn Schweizer, schweizer@denison.edu