OFF-CAMPUS TRIPS AND TOURS Update Delete



Off Campus trips and tours are usually a very positive part of a student’s educational experience. However, because trips require travel, visiting and staying in unfamiliar surroundings, contact with strangers, etc. they entail certain risks. Those risks have the potential to escalate into trip participants becoming the victims of violent acts. The policies below are designed so as to alert participants to potential risks and to assist trip leaders in minimizing those risks in order to maximize the potential for successful and positive trips for all participants. The following policy is for all mission, outreach, class field trips, study tours, and touring groups.

    1. It is the student’s responsibility to make arrangements with their professors and/or work supervisor before the trip to make up the work for all trips and tours scheduled by a trip leader as part of a course or organizational activity that conflicts with another class or lab.
    2. It is the trip leader’s responsibility to obtain prior approval from the department head/chair or school dean before scheduling off campus trips or tours.
    3. It is the trip leader’s responsibility to notify the associate vice president for Academic Administration at least two weeks before the field trip or tour is taken. This notification must be in writing, with a list of participating student names and ID numbers, the dates, destinations, and duration of the trip, as well as the signature of the department head/chair or school dean. Form is found at https//:www.southern.edu/academics.
    4. It is also the trip leader’s responsibility to notify the associate vice president for Academic Administration immediately after the trip or tour, if any of the students previously listed as participating did not actually attend the trip or tour.
    5. It is the trip leader’s responsibility to provide for emergency communication to the campus at all times during the trip. (University would provide satellite phone if necessary.)
    6. The associate vice president for Academic Administration will notify other faculty on campus who may be affected by the absences of students on trips and tours. However, it should be noted that it is up to the student to make prior arrangements with their other faculty for work missed during trips and tours.
    7. It is the university’s preference that no trips or tours be scheduled during Weeks of Spiritual Emphasis meetings.
    8. No trips or tours are to be scheduled during the week before midterm, during midterm exams, the week before final exams, or the week of final exams. Extended tours should be scheduled, as much as possible, over weekends and breaks in the academic calendar in order to minimize the number of classes and labs students must miss.
    9. Approval must be obtained from the Undergraduate Council/Graduate Council or if more than two days of classes will be missed. This approval needs to be obtained one or more semesters prior to the one during which the trip is scheduled.
    10. Large promotional touring groups such as the orchestra, the band, the choirs, Destiny, or Gym-Masters must coordinate their annual touring schedules and budgets through the Promotional Tours Committee.
    11. Trip leaders must check with the office of Risk Management to ensure that all insurance forms and any hold-harmless agreements are signed and in proper order.
    12. All General Conference guidelines and policies for international tours must be followed, including attention to insurance details.
    13. Approval of international tours must follow the procedures outlined in Policy 5590, below and be submitted through the Administrative Council at least six months in advance.
    Detailed itineraries, a list of participants and emergency numbers, as well as phone numbers of all pre-planned lodging accommodations, must be submitted to Academic Administration for posting to a special Trip/Tour Sharepoint site so that documents that might be vital in case of an emergency can be accessed by trip and University leadership. Because this Sharepoint site will be the depository of documents pertaining to the trip which contain private information about trip participants, access will be restricted in accordance with FERPA guidelines.