Event and Space Usage Guidelines

Occidental College’s facilities exist to serve the College’s mission. Occidental allows the responsible use of its facilities by internal and external groups and individuals for purposes that conform to and support the College’s mission. This policy establishes guidelines for scheduling events using campus facilities, including how reservable spaces are allocated. The goal of this policy is to minimize scheduling conflicts and overlaps, provide information about the College’s event approval processes, and identify resources available to event planners. All space usage on campus must conform to this policy.

II. APPLICABILITY.

This policy applies to all internal and external parties who wish to use campus facilities for events or activities. The guidelines provided herein govern the allocation and use of spaces during the academic year as well as the summer term, ensuring a consistent and fair process throughout the entire year.

III. DEFINITIONS.

Academic Year - per the dates outlined in the applicable academic calendar.

Administrative Activities (Category 4) - meetings, workshops, events and programs hosted by an administrative department of the College. These activities generally occur during regular business hours, and are typically held in conference rooms, classrooms, or larger common spaces on campus.

Athletic Department Activities (Category 5) - includes all SCIAC-sanctioned events and NCAA Division III intercollegiate competitions and team practices.

Credit-Bearing Activities (Category 1) – 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.

Non-Credit Instructional Activities (Category 3) - events sponsored by faculty members or departments and approved by the Dean of the College/Vice President for Academic Affairs that are not directly related to credit-bearing classes, but are related to the College’s instructional mission. These activities include events such as seminars, internal conferences, lectures, required movie screenings, student film activities, and presentations by visiting scholars.

External Activities (Category 8) – on-campus events: (1) for groups and individuals that exist primarily outside of the College; (2) that do not have a direct programmatic relationship with the College or its departments; or (3) that do not fall within one of the other event categories.

Internal Activities (Category 4) – on-campus events where the participants are mostly Oxy students, faculty, and/or staff. A few non-Oxy guests are acceptable.

Recognized Student Group Activities (Category 6) - events related to Student Leadership, Involvement & Community Engagement (SLICE)-recognized student clubs and organizations. These include meetings, workshops, conferences, games, shows, concerts, movies, and dances.

Senior Staff Activities (Category 2) – annual, College-wide activities authorized by the Office of the President or a College Vice President including, but not limited to, Orientation, Convocation, Homecoming & Family Weekend, Commencement, Alumni Reunion Weekend, Board of Trustees meetings, and major events hosted by the Offices of Admission and Institutional Advancement. These also include any events or programs the Office of the President or a College Vice President determines will serve the College’s mission or will benefit the College, including use of facilities as voting centers and programs of interest to the community.

Sponsored Activities (Category 7) - campus events that involve off-campus individuals or groups and have direct programmatic relationships with College departments that agree to sponsor the events.

Summer Term – the summer term is the dates outside the standard academic year as per the applicable academic calendar.

IV. POLICY.

A. Overview and Priority of Scheduling

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 to the Office of the Registrar and the Office of Master Calendar.

1. Academic Year

During the Academic Year, facilities are scheduled in the following order of priority:

Credit-Bearing Activities (Category 1)
Senior Staff Activities (Category 2)
Non-Credit Instructional Activities (Category 3)
Internal Activities (Category 4)
Athletic Department Activities (Category 5)
Recognized Student Group Activities (Category 6)
Sponsored Activities (Category 7)
External Activities (Category 8)

Except for the scheduling of classes, only the Master Calendar Office can provide institutionally-binding confirmation of facility space reservations.

2. Summer Term

During the Summer Term, facilities are scheduled subject to availability and may prioritize different activities, such as Category 8 activities (summer programs and external conferences), Category 4 activities, and maintenance projects. During the Summer, all activity scheduling should be first directed to Conference Services (conference@oxy.edu) in accordance with the timeline and procedures outlined in Section IV.C.4 of this policy. If the nature of the activity requires, event organizers will be referred to the appropriate office for scheduling and will be required to follow the timeline and procedures outlined in Section IV.C.2 of this policy.

Additional guidelines specific to summer scheduling may be developed as a separate policy to address the unique operational and logistical requirements of the Summer Term.

B. Insurance Requirements

Category 1-7 activities may require insurance and/or permitting depending on risk factors including, but not limited to: Crowd size, guest speakers and entertainment, vendors, fire safety, alcohol, and live animals. All Category 8 activities will require insurance and may require permitting.

It is the responsibility of the activity coordinator/organizer(s) to submit a Request for Events Services as soon as possible (but no later than fifteen [15] business days) before the activity. The submission of this form will alert the College to potential risk factors, so that a determination can be made about what insurance or permitting is required, if any.

All insurance policies obtained for activities must name Occidental College as an additional insured and meet all current requirements of the Office of General Counsel/Risk Management as outlined in the Insurance and Risk Reduction Guidelines. The activity coordinator/organizer(s) must provide a copy of any required insurance policy to the Office of Risk Management no later than ten (10) business days before the activity is scheduled to occur.

C. Requesting Space; Scheduling and Approval of Events

Anyone wishing to schedule an event should review the Event Planning Resources web page. This contains helpful information about planning events in accordance with the College’s and legal requirements.

Requests to schedule events may be made as follows.

All Category 2-7 activities must be scheduled utilizing the Master Calendar registration and approval process (as described in more detail below).

Individual College employees (including faculty members whose event is not Category 1 or 3), students, and alumni who wish to schedule a campus event either need to receive sponsorship from a College department or process their requests as Category 8 (External) Activities.

1. Category 1 Activities

All Category 1 activities are scheduled by the Office of the Registrar.

2. Category 2-7 Activities

All Category 2-7 events must be pre-approved by at least one of the following offices:

CEAC (Campus Events Advisory Committee)
1. Review by CEAC is the most expedient way to receive College approval and ensure that your event is compliant with College policies. During the Academic Year, CEAC meets weekly on Tuesdays from 11:30 to 12:30. During the Summer Term, CEAC meets as needed. To schedule a 15-minute appointment with CEAC, contact committee chair Marcus Rodriguez in SLICE. To allow CEAC to properly assist in planning an event, plan to meet with CEAC 4-6 weeks in advance of major events, and a minimum of 3 weeks in advance for smaller events.
Office of the Dean of the College
1. For Category 3 events, requestors may work with CEAC and/or the Dean’s Office. For the Dean’s Office, contact Paolo Velasco, Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs: pvelasco@oxy.edu.
Office of the President
1. For Category 2 events contact Laura Crescenzo, Associate Director of College Events, Office of the President: crescenzo@oxy.edu.

All faculty and staff may request space in 25Live. 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):

Note: Space/event reservations made without prior approval are subject to cancelation by the College at any time.

a. Additional Steps for Category 7 Activities

To sponsor an event, a department needs to:

Obtain event approval, as noted in the section above.
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.
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.
Comply with relevant College events scheduling and space use policies and procedures.

3. Category 6 Activities

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

4. Category 8 Activities

All Category 8 activities must be coordinated, reserved, and contracted with one of the following offices:

Conferences and Meetings: conference@oxy.edu
Filming: Unreel Locations, 323-953-6189, unreelsite@aol.com
Athletic Facilities: cvallembois@oxy.edu
Catering and Private Social Events (weddings, etc.): celebrations@oxy.edu
Performing Arts Facilities: brianf@oxy.edu
Oxy Arts on York Ave: 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 determined by the Office of Risk Management, and pay fees as determined by the contracting office.

D. Location-Specific Guidelines

E. Prohibited Events

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

Every reasonable effort will be made to provide facilities and services as approved through the Office of Master Calendar. However, circumstances may require that the College relocate, reschedule, or cancel an approved event with or without prior verbal or written notice, and at the sole discretion and judgment of College officials. Relocation may occur 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, turnaround times for catering orders, sound and noise conflicts, privacy of confidential matters, exceeding maximum capacity of campus resources such as parking, crowd control and large group sizes, limited staffing to support competing events, etc.

The College reserves the right to cancel an event if (1) the event or those responsible for it do not comply with relevant College policies and procedures, or the directions of College officials, including Campus Safety Officers, (2) the event would create an unreasonable risk or potential for liability for the College, (3) the College or governmental officials cannot ensure the safety of event participants, (4) event fees are not paid according to deadlines identified in the College contract, or (5) any of the following occur: a natural disaster, war or threat of terrorism, or inability to provide approved services for reasons outside the College's reasonable control. These cancelation criteria are evaluated at the sole discretion of College officials and may be applied to any event (including an event that is in progress) without prior written or verbal notice.

Generally, approved space reservations will not be relocated if a higher priority category request is submitted for the same space. In such cases, the Master Calendar Office will present appropriate, available space alternative(s) for the higher priority category activity. Nevertheless, on occasion, relocation of the lower priority category activity is the best alternative, and the College reserves the right to do so.

The Office of Master Calendar will make every reasonable effort to notify affected parties in as timely a fashion as is possible under the circumstances. The Office of Master Calendar will make every reasonable effort to find an alternative location, or to reschedule a previously scheduled event in the same location on an alternative date.

As a condition of scheduling an event, the scheduling party accepts the possibility that their activity could be relocated, rescheduled, or canceled with little or no notice, and agrees that the College will have no financial or other responsibility for any such relocation, cancelation, or rescheduling.

V. POLICY HISTORY.

Responsible Officer(s): COO; Risk Manager

Last Revised Date: April 29, 2024

VI. RELATED POLICIES AND RESOURCES.

Cannon Plaza

Carl F. Braun Fine Book Room in the Academic Commons

CEAC

Dumke Commons Faculty Lounge in the Arthur G. Coons Administration Center

Event Planning Resources

Gilman Fountain

Hameetman Career Center

Hameetman Science Center