Frequently Asked Questions
Please use the following resources to assist in planning and facilitating programs/events for your Saint Louis University student organization. If you encounter obstacles or have questions, don't hesitate to contact the SLU Student Involvement Center at involvement@slu.edu or 314-977-2805.
Setting Up Your Event
Ready to set up your event? and read through other important information for SLU events.
Reserving Event Space
Once your event has been approved, refer to the list below to determine the appropriate department on campus responsible for the space you are interested in reserving. Click on the link to find their event registration form. To reserve the space, you must submit the registration form along with your event approval certificate to the appropriate department. The approval certificate is on your event's detail page in SLU Groups and can be reached by navigating to your club's page and clicking on the "events" tab.
- Event Services: the BSC, DuBourg Hall, Campus Grounds, Il Monastero, Boileau Hall, Allied Health Multipurpose Room, CGC Atrium and Auditorium
- Campus Recreation: Simon Rec Center, SLUruba, Athletic Practice Fields, Vandeventer Field
- Center for Global Citizenship: Seminar Room, International Student Lounge, Conference Room
- Griesedieck Hall: Smart Room, Cafeteria
Policies
- SLU Student Handbook
- Political Involvement and Activities (PDF)
- Policy on Civil Discourse, Speech and Expression
- Additional Guidelines for PPS (PDF)
- Fundraisers Policy (PDF)
Financing
Contracts
There are policies for hiring outside speakers, performers and vendors for Saint Louis University student groups, known as chartered student organizations or CSOs. The procedure below should only be followed after your event has been approved on SLU Groups.
Contract Approval Process
- Once your event is approved, contact the Student Involvement Center at involvement@slu.edu or 314-977-2805 to schedule an appointment with a SIC staff member to help you create a contract using the online software Agiloft. Drop-in appointments are sometimes available, but not guaranteed.
- You must have the following information collected ahead of time:
- A title and description for your contract.
- The name, address and email contact for the entity with which you are initiating the contract. If you are arranging the contract with an existing SLU vendor, this information may already be archived by the contract software.
- The amount and terms of payment for services.
- The contract and payment will go through an approval process within the Division of Student Development. Please allow a minimum of 20 days before your scheduled event for the contract to be approved and signed.
If you run into obstacles or have questions, don't hesitate to contact the Student Involvement Center at involvement@slu.edu or 314-977-2805.
CSO Advisor Resources
The Student Involvement Center has created the following resources to assist you as advisors in guiding students鈥� development through co-curricular involvement. While these resources are far from comprehensive, they address a few of the most common issues that advisors face, including ensuring that events are safe and assessing the development of leaders.
There are many pieces that make up the role of the CSO advisor at Saint Louis University. In realizing that each group is different and might seek different things from their advisor, and that each advisor will be different in their approach to advising, the CSO Advisor Role document lists the ideal strengths of a Saint Louis University CSO advisor. It is also important to understand the CSO鈥檚 responsibilities to their advisor.
Chartered student organizations should submit, to the vice president of student organizations, an official CSO advisor agreement (PDF).
At Saint Louis University, student group advising is looked to as hands-on and purposeful rather than when advising was more about providing the necessary signatures. We first recognize that each student group at Saint Louis University is unique in their makeup and needs and will thus require different approaches from the advisor, but we hope these CSO Advisor Tips will set the foundation to create an individualistic advising approach.
Learn more about advising through the American College Personnel Association, Commission on Student Involvement鈥檚 advising manual.
If you wish to provide feedback, or require additional assistance, contact us at involvement@slu.edu.
Frequently Asked Questions about CSOs
Please note: requests should be submitted via the "forms" section in SLU Groups a minimum of 48 business hours in advance of need. This includes requests to take the card off-campus or use for online purchasing.
P-card Rules and Procedures
- P-Cards are designated solely for purchases related to your student organization. No personal purchases are allowed.
- For every purchase made, the original, tax-free, itemized receipt must be returned to the Student Involvement Center immediately when you return the p-card.
- Only the individual who checks out the p-card has authority to make purchases with it. You are not allowed to pass the card from one individual to another for multiple purchases or from one organization to another.
- All p-cards must be picked up at a time scheduled by the front desk and that is during the SIC business hours, Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- When you pick up the p-card, you will be required to sign it out. The receipt/p-card should be brought to the office the following morning.
Use of the p-card must be approved before check out. If you have any questions about using the p-Card, please contact us at involvement@slu.edu or at 314-977-2805.
Student organizations or departments must drop flyers off in the Student Involvement Center (BSC 319).
If your organization would like to get a flyer approved, you can either:
- Bring it to the Student Involvement Center on the third floor of the BSC to get an approval stamp.
- Or attach your document to an email to involvement@slu.edu. One of our staff members will take a look and send back the regulations and approval stamp for you to cut and paste onto the flyer.
If there is no end date included on your flyer, please let us know what take-down date you would like. The date must be before the end of the semester.
Group members may put up approved flyers and posters around campus, with the exception of Busch Student Center and the residence halls. Groups may give up to seven copies of the poster to the information desk on the second floor of Busch Student Center to be posted around the building. Groups must give publicity for the residence halls to the Office of Housing and Residence Life, DuBourg 157, and will be put up by RAs. When your poster is approved, you will receive a list of all posting policies and approved locations. If posters are posted improperly, the University has the option to charge your group $50.
If you are interested in starting a new organization, contact SGA鈥檚 vice president for student organizations at sga.stuorgs@slu.edu for a discussion.
Useful points to consider ahead of time are:
- How many students are interested in being part of this group to start with? (Is there a minimum number we should suggest?)
- Are there any existing student organizations that might be able to serve this need?
- Do you have a staff or faculty member willing to serve as your advisor?
Your organization must be chartered, and you must be a member of the group with administrative access (usually the executive board) to submit an event on SLU Groups. If your group is both chartered and you have administrative access to your group, please follow for instructions on how to fill out and submit the event approval form.
Once both your advisor and the Division of Student Development have approved the form, you will receive an event approval certificate and instructions on how to reserve space. You do not have a space reserved until after you submit a request through the Office of Event Services (located on the third floor of Busch Student Center, suite 313) using the 25Live reservations portal. You may not get your first choice of space on your chosen date.
If availability considerations require modifications of the date or location, remember to revisit SLU Groups to update the details there, because we use that information to publicize your events.
- Log into SLU groups
- Go into Student Involvement Center page
- Click on 鈥淐SO Student Reimbursement Request (2024-2025)鈥�
Important notes:
- A reimbursement may only occur if the purchase was for goods that were tax exempt.
- The original receipt/invoice must be included when a reimbursement request is made.
- For a credit card/debit card, additional document (bank statement) must be submitted.
- Only organizational related purchases will be reimbursed.
Proof of payment is required for all reimbursements. The following all qualify as proof of payment for reimbursement:
- Cash register receipt
- Credit card receipt
- Bank statement
- Canceled check
- Paid invoice
An unpaid invoice, order confirmation or shipping notice is not sufficient documentation of payment. Proof of payment should contain the date, amount, vendor and method of payment (cash, credit, etc.).
To reserve the banner space, visit the Student Involvement Center, BSC 319. The administrative secretary will check to see if space is available. If the space is available, you will receive a form to fill out. The quad is reserved in one-week intervals, from Monday to the following Monday. A group or department cannot reserve it for consecutive weeks.
Banner Requirements and Recommendations
- Banners must be taken to the first floor of 3547 Olive Street (Buildings and Grounds) and given to Amber Smallwood by the Friday before the date it is expected to be put up.
- We recommend that when you order a banner for the quad that you use a material, such as web or mesh, that allows air flow through the banner as these tend to hold up better. A full vinyl banner may tear due to high winds.
- Banners must be 2' to 3' in height and 10' to 15' in length. SLU Grounds Services has rope to hang the banners. Make sure that the banner has grommet holes to be hung.
- If you want to keep the banner and change the dates/criteria for each year, order it with a Velcro attachment for the part you wish to change.
- FedEx is a great provider for the banners. Contact Connie Womack constance.womack@fedex.com for this service.
For questions about the quad banner, contact Cheryl Kaufman at kaufmanc@slu.edu.
Only people who have administrative access to your group on SLU Groups can change the roster. If you are not changing all of your executive members, one of the executive members who is still serving can go to "roster" then "manage roster" and select 鈥渆dit position鈥� beside members and select the position they are assuming.
If an executive member is not yet a part of your organization, choose "invite people," put in the email address and choose "add email address." Then choose the position you wish to invite them to.
If your executive board is brand new and no one has administrative access, please contact the Student Involvement Center to have that updated.
Fundraising Questions
Registering your fundraiser provides the University with information about the people or organizations from whom you're soliciting money or other donations. It also provides SLU with important information on your designated charity, where you will be asking for money, how you are collecting donations, and how you are handling those donations. This creates a level of accountability, security and safety that may have been lacking in some fundraisers in the past. Additionally, registering your fundraiser gives your advisor information about your event so that he or she can provide support, guidance and advice on how best to implement your fundraiser.
Yes. This policy only covers fundraisers that are for your student organization or the University community (internal fundraiser) and fundraisers on behalf of a 501(c)3 charitable organization (external fundraiser).
For example, if your fundraiser collects money for your group to travel to a conference, that would be an internal fundraiser. If your fundraiser collects money for the national Children's Miracle Network, that would be an external fundraiser.
The policy outlines six types of fundraisers:
- Profit shares
- Sales
- Solicitation
- In-kind donations
- Collection of membership dues
- Raffles or prize drawings
The University does not necessarily see an instance where we would not approve a fundraiser, based on what we know about past student organization fundraisers. However, in some cases, we may ask questions and offer help and support to make sure your fundraiser goes well, people are safe, and accountability measures have been put into place.
We anticipate most fundraisers by student organizations will be approved quickly as long as they don't violate any of the stipulations set forth in the policy.
To register your fundraiser, use the SLU Groups website. Navigate to your organization鈥檚 page and click on the "Events" menu button. On that page will be a button labeled "Create Event." Complete the form and answer the questions to the best of your ability. Make sure, when asked for type of program, to select "Fundraiser."
Registering your fundraiser should take no more than five or so minutes, depending on the complexity of your event.
Keep in mind that the University asks that you make these requests 20 business days in advance, which is consistent with registering other types of events at SLU.
No and yes. Teams that are registered as part of a larger student organization fundraiser (i.e. Dance Marathon, Relay for Life) are exempt from this policy. However, if your team plans to do any of the following items listed below, then yes, it must be registered:
- Selling something that has the SLU logo on it
- The sale of baked goods and other food items requiring preparation
- Raffles and/or prize drawings