Co-Sponsorship Policy Explanation

Why does Atwood Charge SCSU departments for facility rentals?

While Atwood is in many ways very similar to other SCSU buildings, there are some unique characteristics to it. The center is a student union which means that it is 100% funded by students and revenues. There are NO tuition dollars or state tax dollars used in the facility for its operations. In fact the bonds that originally paid for the facility specifically regulate against some academic uses.

SCSU students have at the same time recognized that their center serves them better if it can be a welcome gathering place for the entire campus. They created a governing board that includes faculty and staff and they have created policies that encourage use of the center by SCSU departments and offices for departmental functions. In fact in a normal year about half of the usage of their center are departmental meetings.

While students have supported having their fees subsidize some faculty and staff usage they have asked the AMC administration to collect facility use charges for events when departments invite off campus participants and charge fees for participation or receive outside funding for the event.

There is little question that most of these events with off-campus participants are good for SCSU but the question for students is whether their fees should be subsidizing these events vs general university funds. To better understand how this might apply to your specific event refer to the policy below.

Co-Sponsorship Policy

Atwood Facilities :

Atwood Memorial Center receives its entire operational funding from student activity fees and generated revenue. Recognized student organizations will not be charged rental for events they sponsor. When cosponsoring an event, an Event Co-Sponsorship Request Form must be completed and submitted to the Conference and Scheduling Office. Co-sponsorship of events that are fund raisers for organizations will not be charged rental if the group receives compensation equal to, or greater than what the non-student group would have been charged. Organizations representatives are expected to organize and work at events they cosponsor.

Fees will be waived for university department meetings or events that are directly related to university business including, but not limited to MnSCU meetings, campus/community advisory committees, and joint ventures of SCSU departments and business or civic organizations. University -sponsored events whose primary purpose is attracting potential students to the campus or programs that can reasonably construed as having such an effect programs. Fees are also waived for armed forces recruiting.  

Campus groups will be charged 90 percent of the nonprofit rental for events that are cosponsored with a non-campus group and the program is offered to the public or off-campus client groups. Events and programs for which fees are charged to the participants or that receive funding from additional sources can expect to pay for space consistent with the current rental rates. Refer to Atwood Memorial Center Space Use Policies for a complete list of rental policies.

Academic Facilities

University Departments and student organizations will not be charged rental fees for any department activity they solely sponsor. Co-sponsored events are not charged rental fees. Refer to Event Co-sponsorship Request Form for Co-sponsorship requirements.

If you would like to complete a Co-Sponsorship Request Form, please follow the link below.  You will need to print out and obtain the necessary signatures:

Event Co-Sponsorship Request Form