Takeaways from Ball State’s new guidelines for student organizations

<p>&nbsp;President Aiden Medellin (third from left) stands alongside his slate members during the 2019 Student Government Association elections Under new guidelines from Ball State’s Office of Student Life, attendance at student organization events must have no more than 100 people. <strong>Scott Fleener, DN File</strong></p>

 President Aiden Medellin (third from left) stands alongside his slate members during the 2019 Student Government Association elections Under new guidelines from Ball State’s Office of Student Life, attendance at student organization events must have no more than 100 people. Scott Fleener, DN File

The Office of Student Life will host three upcoming virtual trainings via WebEx. The trainings are scheduled as follows:

Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect that all face-to-face student organization meetings and events must be canceled or postponed and the Office of Student Life's times for WebEx training.

Following guidelines for hosting events issued by Ball State’s president and the governor of Indiana, Ball State’s Office of Student Life has issued new guidelines for student organizations effective immediately.

READ MORE: Guidance to Student organizations during COVID-19 global outbreak

“The safety and well-being of our students is paramount for Ball State,” said Jim Hague, director of Student Life. “To assume organizations would continue with ‘business as usual,’ under our current realities demonstrates a lack of information about the realities of this present public health crisis and how impactful individual choices can be on positively or negatively influencing the speed in which COVID-19 spreads.”

Hague said the Office of Student Life will assist all student organizations in considering how it continues to support the organization’s mission statement while adjusting operations to meet the needs of this pandemic outbreak.

“We must all take action to actively slow the spread of COVID-19 that is in alignment with the university’s decision to transition face-to-face courses to online,” he said.

Accordingly, here are some takeaways from the new guidelines for student organizations effective Friday.

Hosting events:

In another email sent March 18, Hague updated the guidance for student organizations with regard to hosting events.

All face-to-face student organization meetings and events must be canceled or postponed no matter the anticipated size of audience at the meeting or event, he said.

Student Organization Funding:

Student organizations will not be permitted to reallocate unused funds from events that were canceled due to the COVID-19 response. However, this will not negatively impact the ability to request and be allocated funds in the future.

The guidelines state there isn't enough time to propose, schedule and execute a new program prior to the end of the spring semester.

Organizations will be permitted to request allocated funds be reallocated in the event a program transitions from a face-to-face program to a web-based and virtual event.

Web-based hosting:

The Office of Student Life recommends student organizations to audit their meeting structures, frequency and purpose.

WebEx is the recommended tool for online meetings and collaboration from virtually any device, the guidelines state.

Next week, Hague said the Office of Student Life will announce two WebEx training sessions for student organization leaders to “better understand how to utilize the system that will allow them to host both meetings and events virtually.”

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