1. Planning Your Organization's Trip

The first step of planning a successful travel event for your organization is ensuring that the trip is in line with your group's mission, vision, and values. How does this trip match with your goals and objectives for the group? What are you hoping to achieve? Next, begin thinking about the logistical planning necessary for the trip. Do your members have the capability to plan this trip? Consider all of the risks associated with the trip, and make comprehensive plans about how to reduce or eliminate those areas of risk. Discuss the trip with your advisor, and submit an Event Planning Form to the Department of Student Activities. For more information about risk management for an organizational trip, please refer to the Event Planning section of this website.

Student organizations sometimes struggle in defining whether or not a trip with members from the group qualifies as an "organizational event." Some factors to consider that will help you make the distinction between a trip with friends or an organizational event include:

• Who is coordinating the trip and on whose behalf?
• How was information about the trip communicated to your members?
• Who will be attending?
• Is the trip in line with your organization's purpose, and has it been approved through your organization's standard decision-making process?
• Have you discussed the trip with your advisor?
• How would an objective person define your trip?  

2. Transportation Plans

There are many options for transportation available to your group, including planes, trains, personal vehicles, commercial vehicles, university vehicles, charter buses, boats or ferries, and more. Road trips are the most common form of student organization travel, and it is important that your drivers are completely prepared for the trip. Consider the selection and training process for drivers, qualifications required, and the personal liability and responsibility assumed. In choosing the best option for your trip, you should also consider whether or not you should purchase insurance for your organization's event. You may require that participants have auto insurance or provide information about their health insurance, purchase trip insurance through the Department of Student Activities, and/or purchase an insurance policy through your commercial carrier. (Please call 979-845-0694 with questions about insurance purchases.) Please refer to the transportation section of this website for more details about your options for travel.

3. Safety Precautions 

Begin by establishing expectations for all participants traveling with your organization. Great ways to ensure that your participants understand their expectations and guidelines include hosting an orientation meeting before the trip and distributing written copies of the expectations. You should include the information required by the Student Travel Rule (waiver forms and CIRT notification information), behavior expectations, and procedures for emergency situations. If you are traveling by personal vehicles, commercial vehicles, or university vans, you must communicate and enforce the safe driving practices outlined by the Student Travel Rule.

Some suggested items to bring on your trip for safety purposes include:

• First Aid Kit
• Flashlight
• Cell Phones for each vehicle/group leader
• Credit Cards for emergencies
• Map(s) of your route and destination location
• Two sets of waiver forms: one master set to stay with the advisor and one to travel with the students
• A list of emergency phone numbers for all participants, including numbers of at least the advisor, the University Police Department (979-845-2345), the Department of Student Activities, other participants, and emergency liaisons at the destination location

4. Emergency Situations

It is imperative to plan ahead of time for your response in case of an emergency. The waiver forms and CIRT notification required by the Student Travel Rule are mandatory to help protect student organizations in case something goes wrong on your trip, but you must also establish your own specific emergency procedures to help guide your reaction in a crisis situation. Your advisor and the Risk Management team in the Department of Student Activities are available to help you plan the most effective emergency response plans.

If a breakdown occurs, you can call the Department of Public Safety non-emergency roadside assistance phone number: (800) 525-5555.

If you are involved in an accident:

• Stop immediately and notify local police or call 911;
• Contact your advisor;
• Assess the situation and provide any appropriate aid;
• Fill out a police report for insurance purposes;
• Obtain the names and contact information of all witnesses; and
• Avoid making statements about who is at fault for the accident or offering to pay damages. (Fault and/or legal liability will be decided by the appropriate authorities.)
• Also, if you are driving a university or commercial vehicle, consult with the procedures outlined in your rental information.

If someone is injured on your trip:

• Call 911 immediately to obtain medical attention for the participant;
• Render aid as appropriate;
• Consult the waiver or medical release form to determine if the participant has special needs and/or health insurance information;
• Contact the University Police Department at (979) 845-2345 to notify the Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT); and
• Contact your advisor.