Scheduling Expressive Activity
Requirements and Procedures for Scheduling and Safely Hosting On-Campus Events Involving Expressive Activity
As stated in 온라인바카라’s Freedom of Expression Policy and related Guidance, the freedoms of speech, thought, expression and assembly are paramount and foundational to the university’s mission of creating a transformative educational experience that is open to the free exchange of ideas.
Creating the conditions to support the free exchange of ideas, the university must 1. ensure the physical safety of participating individuals and bystanders and 2. protect campus facilities and grounds while ensuring academic and administrative functions that support the university’s day-to-day work. Additionally, exercising these freedoms must comply with the law, which means some forms of speech or assembly may be restricted by federal, state or local statutes, applied in a content-neutral manner.
As embodied in the Policy and Guidance, the purpose of these procedures is to provide the campus community with information on how the university will support individuals planning demonstrations, protests, rallies or other events involving expressive activity on campus. The procedures also outline what is expected of those hosting and participating in such activities, including requirements for events where 50 or more people are expected to attend.
Definitions
For the purposes of these procedures:
A University Community Member is a current faculty member, staff member or enrolled student at 온라인바카라.
Expressive activity is any organized campus gathering or means through which University Community Members publicly communicate and express ideas and positions with the intent of robustly engendering awareness, debate, adoption, action and/or change. Such activity includes various forms of peaceful assembly, protests, demonstrations, rallies, speeches, signage/displays, picketing and petitioning.
A Sponsor serves as the primary host for an event involving expressive activity on campus. A Sponsor must be a current University Community Member, recognized student organization or university department (subject to the scheduling requirements outlined below). Sponsors are responsible for hosting and managing the event and serving as the point of contact for the University’s Expressive Activity Support Team. As set forth in the Policy, Sponsors “are responsible for the behavior of their guests and should exercise due care to ensure that all participants abide by relevant university policies[1].” This means that, when hosting an expressive activity, Sponsors are expected to partner with the university in planning, scheduling and conducting the event, which includes complying with all applicable laws and university policies and procedures. Any event involving expressive activity subject to scheduling requirements detailed in these procedures must have at least one designated Sponsor.
Partners are secondary people or organizations that provide logistical, financial, promotional or other support to an event involving expressive activity but are not the primary Sponsor(s). Partners may or may not be affiliated with Carnegie Mellon.
[1]This statement appears in the Freedom of Expression Policy, originally adopted March 3, 1988, as amended by the President’s Council on February 2, 2007.
Scheduling Events Involving Expressive Activity
As discussed above, and as allowed by law, the university may impose reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on the exercise of speech, expression and assembly. For example, the university may weigh several factors of an event, such as the size, time and security needs, in designating the appropriate location and time for it to occur.
If you are planning an event where you expect 50 or more people to attend, you are required to follow the event scheduling process outlined below.
If an event with 50 or more participants takes place without being scheduled, the university may need to cancel or disperse the event. Any decisions of this kind will be made without regard to the event's content.
The university is mindful that it is often difficult to determine, or even project, with any degree of certainty the number of participants who will attend an event. Interest in a particular event may quickly increase or decrease due to a number of factors within or beyond the control of the Sponsors. Sponsors are expected to make a good faith effort and exercise due diligence in determining whether the threshold number of participants is expected to be exceeded when planning the event. In cases where Sponsors detect increased interest in an unscheduled event that would require it to be officially scheduled, but the advance notification period outlined below has passed, Sponsors are expected to reach out to Student Affairs who will make every effort to coordinate with the Sponsor(s) to facilitate the event.
The university also recognizes that geopolitical or local events may spark the desire for spontaneous gatherings without any prior planning. Although such circumstances may give rise to a sense of urgency or excitement, they should be viewed in the context of the shared campus community, as well as the university’s interest in, and right, to uphold its commitment to safety and the normal operations of the university. Even on such occasions, we encourage the community to work with Student Affairs, who will do their best to respond to the shorter timeframe in a way that will allow the event to proceed.
In scheduling an event where 50 or more participants are reasonably expected to attend, the following provisions apply:
- An event involving expressive activity that is exclusively intended for University Community Members as its audience (and for which participation by external entities is neither solicited nor expected) needs to be scheduled with advance notice, following the procedures below, except under the following circumstances:
- Activity conducted within an academic course setting that is formally listed on the university schedule of classes; or
- Activity involving the direct exercise of rights by employees to engage in concerted activities for the purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid or protection under the National Labor Relations Act, including but not limited to strikes, demonstrations, handbilling or any other lawful protected concerted activity.
- An event involving expressive activity that is intended for University Community Members as a primary (but not exclusive) audience, but for which entities who are not University Community Members have been invited as guests to be involved in organizing, financing, promoting, implementing, presenting or attending the event, also needs to be scheduled with advance notice following the procedures below. However, such events are subject to the additional requirement that the Sponsor must be either a Carnegie Mellon recognized student organization or university department.
At 온라인바카라, we encourage anyone planning an expressive activity event of any size to notify the university so that we can help facilitate successful planning that meets the Sponsor’s goals. This is especially important if you have invited any external guests to be part of the event. Notification can occur by emailing Student Affairs.
Scheduling Procedures
The following outlines the steps for scheduling an expressive activity event on campus. While these procedures apply to events that are for 50 or more participants, we strongly encourage individuals planning expressive activity to notify the university even in the event fewer than 50 participants are expected, so that we can help facilitate successful planning that meets the Sponsor’s goals:
- The event Sponsor(s) emails Student Affairs to initiate the advising process. A Student Affairs representative will then meet with the Sponsor(s) to provide guidance and support regarding the event planning process. This contact and meeting should occur as early as possible, and generally, the Sponsor(s) should reach out to Student Affairs no fewer than three business days prior to the proposed date for the event.
- In addition to reaching out to Student Affairs, it is important that the Sponsor(s) reserves the campus space (whether outdoors or indoors) through the university’s . The space reservation will be considered tentative pending confirmation of a successful scheduling process. The Student Affairs representative can assist if the Sponsor(s) encounters questions or difficulties in reserving a specific space.
- The Student Affairs representative will schedule a meeting with the Sponsor(s) to develop a safety and security plan for the event. If relevant, University Police will be consulted to provide recommendations on how best to stage the event in a manner that supports safety for both the participants and the campus community. Roles and staffing designed to provide support and de-escalation for any disruption that may emerge at the event will be discussed. (Please see Section 7 concerning scheduling adjustments.)
- For expressive activity events that are open to non-University Community Members either as participants or as invited speakers, and/or when a non-affiliated Partner is co-hosting the event with the Sponsor(s), the sponsoring organization is responsible for security costs; however, for scheduled expressive activity events that are sponsored by and intended exclusively for University Community Members, the University will absorb the cost for University Police when security is needed.
- The Sponsor(s) will acknowledge that they will act in good faith to ensure that the event is designed and implemented in a manner that is consistent with all university policies and community standards.
- Publicity about an event should not be distributed prior to the event being confirmed by the university. Given the campus confusion and disruption that can result from preemptive publicity, such publicity may influence the university’s decision as to whether to confirm the event to proceed. Publicity should identify the Sponsor(s) and Partner(s) and provide contact information for those seeking more information about the event. Student Affairs can assist Sponsor(s) with appropriate contact information for Sponsor(s) concerned about privacy.
- While the university will make every best effort to fully accommodate the requests of the Sponsor(s) relative to the staging of the event, it reserves the right to reasonably adjust time, place and/or manner for the event based on safety or university operational concerns. Such decisions will be made on a content-neutral basis.
Event Confirmation
Once the scheduling procedures have been reasonably completed, the Student Affairs representative will provide the information gathered to the Associate Vice President of Student Affairs for Community Engagement and the Associate Vice President/Chief Risk Officer, or their designees, to confirm the event logistics. The Student Affairs representative will then provide written confirmation of the scheduled event to the Sponsor(s).
The university reminds the community that a confirmed event does not imply that the university endorses any views or positions expressed either at or in conjunction with the event. University decisions related to scheduling requests and other actions under these procedures will be content-neutral in keeping with the Freedom of Expression policy.
As needed, the Sponsor(s) may be requested to participate in a post-event debrief with a Student Affairs representative for the purposes of assessment, reflection and to support future planning efforts.
It is the university’s aspiration that all University Community Members will embrace the university’s commitment to campus safety, security and operations as expressed through these procedures, and therefore uphold them.
In the event that an expressive activity that requires advance notice and scheduling pursuant to the conditions outlined above does not adhere to these procedures, the university has the discretion to decide whether it is in the best interest of campus safety, security and operations to prevent or disband the event and whether any Carnegie Mellon faculty, staff, student or organization involved in providing leadership for organizing and executing such unscheduled event should be subject to conduct review. (This includes spontaneous events and unscheduled events where the number of participants is 50 or more). All such decisions made by the university will be content-neutral.
All events (regardless of whether advance notice and scheduling is required or not) must comply with all laws, all applicable university policies and community standards, and must not be disruptive or unreasonably interfere with the operations of any university program or activity. Events must not obstruct the entrance or exits to university facilities, rooms, hallways, elevators, or otherwise block the ability of people to transit the campus or access buildings or spaces within.
Should an event involve behavior by either organizers or attendees that do not comply with all applicable policies and procedures, the university reserves the right to cancel and disperse the event and/or determine whether the Sponsor(s) or any University Community Members involved in the alleged misconduct should be subject to conduct review. As stated in the Freedom of Expression Guidance, the university is a place of learning, growth and development. It is also a place of patience, grace and forgiveness. The goals of the university’s response to uncharacteristic and isolated violations of norms should be reconciliation, learning, and non-recurrence, reserving more significant action for more serious noncompliance.
These procedures may be periodically refined and reissued.
Questions or inquiries regarding these procedures should be directed to the Office of the Dean of Students.
Date of Issuance: June 3, 2025[2]
[2] The Requirements and Procedures for Scheduling and Safely Hosting On-Campus Events Involving Expressive Activity" (formerly titled: "The Procedures for Registering and Safely Hosting On-Campus Events involving Expressive Activity") were developed in 2024 following consultation with leadership of the Faculty Senate, the Staff Council, and representatives from the executive committees of the Graduate Student Assembly and the Undergraduate Student Senate. Any future changes to these Procedures being considered by university leadership would be subject to consultation with those groups.