While relaxing many of its former COVID-19 procedures this semester, the Deans’ Office and Student Activities Board have implemented a new precaution. In an email sent last week, SAB asked that “all student organizations and residence halls . . . submit an event proposal for review and approval before hosting events.”
The new policy asks resident assistants, club leaders, and Greek life leaders to submit forms at least 48 hours in advance of an event. Once submitted, proposals are approved or denied within 24 hours. If student groups are denied approval, it will likely be due to spatial concerns.
“What we’re looking for when we approve the applications is the proper amount of space for students,” Ashlyn Neveau ’16, director of student activities, said. “Two hundred people in the formal lounge would not be allowed, so we’d just ask them to move to the Searle Center instead. It’s a back-and-forth on space and people, really.”
Neveau said the policy was enacted to enable clubs and student organizations to better host events during the COVID-19 pandemic, not to limit the number of activities and events held each week.
“Last semester, events had to be canceled last minute, and we just want to help student organizations plan and organize events like normal while still being able to manage COVID-19 on campus,” Neveau said. “The form was created to be a better form of communication on campus.”
Many student leaders said they’re glad that SAB has implemented a formal process for hosting events.
“Last semester, it wasn’t an official policy that we had to go through SAB, but that was already kind of an unwritten rule,” said Greta Dornbirer, head resident’s assistant in Olds Residence. “The new policy makes everything much more clear.”
As of last week, SAB received submission forms from Pi Beta Phi, Hillsdale College for Life, College Republicans, and the International Club.
Daniel Harmon, president of College Republicans, submitted the form for the club’s upcoming debate about former President Donald Trump’s role in the Capitol protest earlier this month.
Harmon said the application was simple to fill out and only asked for the event description, time, date, location, and proposed safety precautions for the event, but it’s an extra hassle to event-planning.
“It has made it more difficult to hold meetings since we now must wait for approval prior to events,” Harmon said. “Last week we were planning on hosting the debate, but we ended up canceling it because we spent so much time figuring out precautions, that we didn’t have enough time to promote the event. So, we moved the event to this Thursday hoping that we are more prepared.”
For student organizations that are rarely in communication with SAB, such as the Hillsdale Hepcats Swing Club, the policy is proving to be especially novel.
“There is lots of confusion related to the definition of an event,” said George Clement, president of the Hillsdale Hepcats. “For example, we host Friday night swing and have a lot of participants, but this is just our usual club meeting. So would we need to apply for an event every Friday?”
Still, campus leaders expressed optimism that the new system will prevent events from being canceled at the last minute.
“Not having usual events this year has had an impact on everyone,” said Dornbirer. “I have noticed a bit more anxiety on campus and in the dorm because events are such a great way to relieve stress. Hopefully, things can be a little easier to organize this semester.”