A new system for event authorization has been released for student organizations on campus.

As of Jan. 8, student organizations planning events open to more than just their club membership should submit them for review using the new University Event Authorization System.

Event Authorization is the process all student organizations go through to host an event that is open to the public, which includes Iowa State students outside of the organization’s membership roster, students from other universities and the public at large.

The process is also used when student organizations reserve the Lynn Fuhrer Lodge for a club event, even though the event is not open to the public.

“The University Event Authorization form should be submitted online at least ten business days prior to the date of the event, no later than four business days when hosting smaller, routine events,” according to the Student Activities Center’s website’s frequently asked questions page. “Large special events and theme weeks are expected to submit the form at least two months in advance.”

Recognized student organizations must submit all events that are open to the public and/or students outside of the club’s membership.

A recognized student organization is any student organization created through the Student Activities Center and has been approved through its Student Organization Recognition Board, according to the Student Activities Center’s website. There are currently over 850 recognized student organizations at Iowa State.

Events not open to the public do not have to be authorized; this includes weekly organization meetings, practices and organization-sponsored trips.

“If your event includes guests, members of other organizations, is open to the Iowa State community or open to individuals from other universities, you do need to have your event authorized,” according to the Student Activities Center’s website’s frequently asked questions page.

Events that involve food, animals, gambling or raffles, alcohol, non-university vendors or youth, which counts as any non-Iowa State students under the age of 18 according to the Student Activities Center’s website, will require completion of additional processes and may require a meeting with the Event Authorization Committee.

If an organization plans to serve and/or sell food at their event, they will need to complete the Food Sales Form, which is now embedded into the University Event Authorization system.

Any youth program hosted by a student organization must be sponsored by a university department and complete the Youth Program Registration process. If an organization is hosting an event that is just open to the public at large and they believe families might attend with their children, that would not be considered a youth program and the organization does not need to fill out the form.

After completing the required forms and submitting the event, an organization will be able to track its status by logging into the University Event Authorization system and navigating to the “My Events” tab.

After the appropriate departments have received the form, the organization may or may not receive communication back from these departments and may or may not be assigned tasks to complete. The organization will receive this communication in either the “Tasks” or “Messages” tab in each of the event’s activities.

After everything has been filled out and completed, the Event Authorization Committee, which has meetings every Thursday, will review the event and its activities. Not every organization is required to meet with the committee in order to have their event approved. If a group is required to attend a meeting, the event coordinator, president, treasurer and adviser will be notified via email of the time they are supposed to attend.

When an activity/event is approved, the event coordinator will receive an email notifying them of the approval. If an event is denied, the event coordinator will receive an email informing them with the specific reason why.

A new University Event Authorization Training is also available in the Student Organization Database to help student organizations learn how to navigate the new site and successfully submit an event to the system.

This training is an online training consisting of 14 slides of information that covers the background, location reservations, navigating the website, creating an event, pre-event planning questions, work requests and attachments, activities, approving events, tracking events, Event Authorization Committee meetings and approved/denied events.

The training is free and open to anyone.