Co-Sponsorship Policy - Atwood Center

Atwood Memorial Center receives its entire operational funding from student activity fees and generated revenue. Registered student organizations will not be charged rental for events they sponsor. Co-sponsorship of events that are fundraiser 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.

Student organizations and university departments that co-sponsor a reservation with an off-campus organization must 

• Be the reservation contact prior to, during and following the event;
• Make the reservations and be the main contact for all the planning of the event;
• Have a student member, St. Cloud State organization advisor or university staff contact representing the group present at the reservation;
• Be financially responsible for all bills and invoices.

The reservation must be linked to the mission and or purpose of the student organization or university department. Advertising and promotional materials must clearly provide the name of the organization(s) or university department. 

Student organizations and university departments shall not use their access to campus, space and services to “front” for a non-university group or commercial vendor in order to avoid or receive reduced expenses and/or provide access to campus for those entities.

Student organizations and university departments are not to reserve space for events which they are not directly involved.

Groups not following this procedure will receive a warning after the first infraction and upon a second infraction will not be able to reserve space in Atwood Center for the remainder of the academic year and will be charged for the reservation space at the public rate.

Why does Atwood charge departments for facility rentals?

Atwood Center is 100% funded by students and revenues. There are no tuition dollars or state tax dollars used in the facility for its operations. The bonds that originally paid for the facility specifically regulate against some academic uses.

Students have 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 departments and offices for departmental functions. In a normal year about half of the usage of Atwood Center are departmental meetings.

While students have supported having their fees subsidize some faculty and staff usage, they require the Atwood Administration to collect facility use charges for events when departments invite off campus participants and charge fees for participation or when there is outside funding for an event.

There is little question that most of these events with off-campus participants are good for the university 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 Explanation

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. Organizations representatives are expected to organize and work at events they co-sponsor.

Fees will be waived for university department meetings or events that are directly related to university business. University-sponsored events through admissions whose primary purpose is attracting potential students to the campus will not be charged room rental fees. Fees are also waived for armed forces recruiting.  

Campus groups will receive 50% off their room rental rates for events that are co-sponsored with a non-campus group. Refer to Atwood Memorial Center Academic Facility Rental page for a complete list of rental policies and usage fees.