Facilities and Land policy updated

UW-Madison has implemented changes to its UW-6000 Use of Facilities and Land policy, consolidating several guidelines related to the use of outdoor space and clarifying definitions regarding the hosting of events by campus departments.

Following the creation of the UW-Madison Policy Library in 2022, the Facilities Use Committee, a non-shared governance group of individuals from across campus whose responsibilities include management of facilities and space, began evaluating and transitioning the Facilities Use Guidelines to policy as appropriate. Following the committee's review, nine of the guidelines were determined to be related to outdoor space use and proposed for consolidation into a single, unified policy.

The consolidation was completed in fall 2023. Meanwhile, other campus working groups were discussing clarifications related to the term "sponsorship" and "invitation" (as outlined Wis. Admin. Code UWS § 21.04), their relationship to hosting events, and the implications for campus departments and liability. It was determined that the updated policy would be incorporated into UW-6000 Use of Facilities and Land, which was last updated in 2003.

A subset of the Facilities Use Committee worked over June and July 2024 to revise and update UW-6000 Use of Facilities and Land to incorporate these and other updates to the policy.

"The university is continually reviewing policies for clarity and ease of use to ensure consistency and better enable compliance," Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Rob Cramer says. "I want to thank the members of the working groups for updating and restructuring the disparate policies into one cohesive policy that campus stakeholders can easily locate and understand."

The transition to UW-6000 may have operational implications for schools, colleges, divisions and units, so please read through the FAQs about UW-6000 carefully to learn what has changed.

All university-level policies are available in the UW-Madison Policy Library, a centralized resource for all policies related to facilities, research, campus life and more. The policy library is managed by the Office of Strategic Consulting, which supports campus-wide efforts to improve clarity, consistency, and accessibility of university policies. Other recently updated policy areas include:

UW-202 Film, Television and Commercial Production on Campus

UW-203 Use of Visuals

UW-204 External Sponsorship of University Programs and Events

UW-205 Use of Institutional Names, Logos, Symbols and Trademarks

UW-206 Institutional and Public Position Statements

UW-207 Website Domains

Updating and streamlining policies is a key university priority. If your school, college or division manages policies, please consider establishing a process to review and update those, in consultation with the Policy Library Coordinator. For more information, please email [email protected].