Presentations Policy

Policy and Procedures For Presentations

Sponsored By Registered Student Organizations

Presentations Policy Preamble

While the CUA president is charged by the trustees with ultimate responsibility for university policy with respect to presentations (films, speakers and performers invited to campus) sponsored by registered student organizations, it is important that he or she have the maximum benefit of meaningful faculty and student participation in those rare cases where the manner or subject matter of such a presentation is objected to by others in the university community. To achieve this goal, the following policy and procedures are hereby promulgated.

Policy for Presentations and Balanced Programs

The Catholic University of America as a university is dedicated to the pursuit of truth wherever it can be found. Faculty and students enjoy the academic freedom essential for genuine scholarly study and research. Academic freedom applies to activities of faculty members in their writings, lecturing and teaching. Academic freedom applies to students in their access to all legitimate sources of information and in their participation in academic dialogue.

Protection from governmental constraint on freedom of speech is ensured by the United States Constitution for all persons. This freedom to express oneself verbally, in writing, or by peaceful demonstration, even in significantly controversial matters, may be constrained in a private university by other values which are held to be equal, greater or prior. The Catholic University of America, as a private institution, is not required to provide a forum for advocates whose values are counter to those of the university or the Roman Catholic Church. The university recognizes a distinction between objective explanation and advocacy in the presentation of issues.

This means, therefore, that it may refuse permission to prospective speakers who in its judgment promote or advocate such counter values. This also means that balanced programs explaining positions on both sides of controversial societal, political, moral and/or ecclesiastical issues may be staged in the pursuit of a more complete educational experience and a greater understanding of the issues.

Hence, in such matters, even in those in which the Roman Catholic Church has expressed clear and unambiguous official teaching, programs involving knowledgeable spokespersons representing opposing viewpoints may be considered to be appropriate within the university setting. Conversely, programs designed to promote action rather than understanding, while not necessarily inappropriate in themselves, are not clearly educational in a strict sense. The university refuses to allow advocacy programs judged by the administration to be inconsistent with the university's underlying value base and in so doing exercises its freedom as a private, value-based institution.
1. blasphemy: the act of expressing irreverence for God or those things held sacred;
2. pornography: explicit sex lacking any artistic merit, portrayed in a vulgar and exploitative manner;
3. calumny: false and malicious accusation;
4. advocacy: meaning the act of pleading for, supporting, inciting or recommending active espousal of (as opposed to scholarly and abstract discourses) examining or questioning the legal, academic or moral propriety of the subject under discussion, constituting a clear and present danger of:

a) the violent overthrow of the government of the United States or any political subdivision thereof;
b) the destruction of, damage to, or the unlawful seizure or subversion of the university's buildings or other property;
c) the disruption, impairment or interference with the university's regularly scheduled classes or other educational functions;
d) coercion, threats, intimidations, blasphemy, defamation, physical harm or other invasions of the lawful rights of the members of the university community;
e) any campus disorder of a violent nature;
f) illegal acts constituting a deprivation of the civil or property rights of others.

Implementation and Procedures
The Office of Campus Programs is routinely responsible for the implementation and enforcement of this policy. Advance approval must be obtained by all registered organizations before program planning. The director of OCP and his or her designee will evaluate presentation proposals on the following criteria:
1. Completed presentation proposals must be presented to the OCP a minimum of five working days in advance of the program date.
2. Proposals must include and will be evaluated on the following information:

a) a basic outline or description of issues to be discussed or subject matter to be presented;
b) name of speaker(s) and/or performers, including background information, credentials for presenting on the topic and current phone number;
c) description of the mission and goals of the organization or sponsor represented by the speaker/entertainer;
d) confirmation of tentative facility reservation for the proposed program;
e) details surrounding contract negotiation and final contract approval.

a) The challenge must be submitted in writing at least five working days prior to the scheduled event and must include specific and detailed reference to the advertised program's alleged conflicts with the Presentations Policy; a lucid and cogent defense of the challenge to the advertised program must also be presented.
b) Until and unless a decision is made to cancel the challenged program, advertising and preparation for the program may continue.
c) If the director of campus programs judges that there are substantive grounds for the challenge, he or she will attempt to arbitrate a mutually agreeable solution to the matter.
d) When the arbitration process is unsuccessful, the challenge will be referred to the Presentations Review Board (see next section).
e) The judgment of the Presentations Review Board will be communicated to the provost for a final decision.
f) The final decision will be communicated in writing by the director of campus programs to all involved parties.

Presentations Review Board
1. The Presentations Review Board (PRB) is constituted by the authority of the president to hear challenges to presentation proposals that have not been resolved through arbitration between the disputing parties.
2. The PRB shall consist of two full-time faculty representatives, a full-time administrative staff representative, a graduate student representative, an undergraduate representative and the assistant director of campus programs. The faculty representatives shall be appointed by the academic senate, the administrative staff representative by the director of campus programs, the graduate representative by the Graduate Student Association, and the undergraduate representative by the Undergraduate Student Government.
3. A quorum consisting of two-thirds (4 members) of the PRB shall be required before any official proceedings may take place.
4. At the initial meeting of each academic year, which will be called by the vice president for student life, the PRB will elect a chair, and a plurality shall be sufficient for that election.
5. Upon referral by the director of campus programs the PRB will consider challenges to specific, advertised programs and will report its judgment directly to the vice president for student life for a final recommendation to the president, who shall render a final decision.
6. The director of campus programs may convene the PRB to review and make recommendations relative to aspects of the Presentations Policy and Procedures. Any recommendations made by the PRB shall be reported to the vice president for student life, who will make a final recommendation to the president, who shall render a final decision.

Presentations Review Board Procedures
1. In all matters before the PRB (including changes to the Presentations Policy and Procedures and the resolution of challenges to programs, and excluding only the election of a chairperson) a majority vote shall be required for action. The PRB should make great efforts to resolve the questions before it, but as an advisory body the PRB may submit a split decision to the vice president for student life for submission to the president in those cases where a tie cannot be broken. In such cases the PRB must submit a written account of its deliberations to the vice president for student life with the record of its vote.
2. The PRB shall convene in person at least once during each academic year, and its affairs may be conducted by written message, telephone, fax or electronic mail in all other cases where such means of communication do not stand to impede the efficient functioning of the PRB or otherwise interfere with due process. The determination of whether face-to-face meetings are necessary shall rest with the chairperson who should carefully weigh the advice of the director of campus programs and the PRB members. In all cases the voting of the PRB must be recorded in writing, noting the numbers of affirmative votes, negative votes, and abstentions.
3. PRB members shall observe appropriate confidentiality in all matters before the PRB, subject to dismissal from the PRB by majority vote of the PRB and such other penalties as may obtain under the conditions of their employment or the Standard of Student Conduct.
4. Any member of the university community shall have standing to make a written request that the PRB consider some change to the Presentations Policy and Procedures. However, the PRB may decline to consider any such request that does not originate with the university administration.
5. When hearing a challenge to a presentation the PRB must convene within 24 hours of having received the challenge and render its decision no less than one full working day before the presentation is scheduled to take place.

a. In its deliberations the PRB may request and receive any testimony, documents or other information deemed relevant for considering the challenge. The PRB cannot compel such testimony or discovery, but refusal by the presenting party or the challenging party to make these disclosures may influence the PRB's deliberations.
b. Once a challenge has been referred to the PRB the chair must determine whether a face-to-face meeting of the PRB is required, and the PRB members must determine what testimony, documents or other information will be required to inform the PRB's decision. If a face-to-face meeting is required, the time and place of that meeting will be communicated promptly to the PRB members and to the disputing parties by the chair. If a face-to-face meeting is not required, a deadline by which testimony, documents, or other information requested by the PRB must be submitted will be communicated promptly to the disputing parties by the chair.
c. Disputing parties are presumed to be interested in these proceedings and share an affirmative responsibility to be aware of meeting times, requests for testimony and documentation and deadlines. The chair shall make every reasonable effort to distribute information to disputing parties, but the failure of those efforts will be presumed to reflect a lack of interest in the proceedings, and will in no other way influence the PRB.
d. In a face-to-face proceeding each disputing party will be granted ten minutes in which to present an argument. At the conclusion of each ten-minute presentation PRB members may ask questions without any time limit. With these presentations concluded, the PRB will deliberate in executive session until a judgment has been reached. No new evidence may be gathered or reviewed after the conclusion of the hearing, and the judgment of the PRB after those deliberations shall be its final judgment.
e. The PRB may choose to review a challenge without meeting face-to-face. In those cases, evidence will be gathered before a deadline and each disputing party will be encouraged to present a written account of their arguments. PRB members need not deliberate together in these cases, and may submit their votes to the chair before a deadline that will be announced by him or her. Votes not received by this deadline shall be counted as abstentions, and this vote shall be the final judgment of the PRB.
f. In all hearings the proceedings of the PRB shall be recorded insofar as it is possible and practical. The responsibility for this record shall rest with the chair.