Use of Classrooms by External Organizations

Rice University has a broad schedule of spring and fall classes and summer programs. Accordingly, classrooms are used nearly every weekday all year, yielding very little time for use by outside organizations. However, rental is occasionally possible, subject to the following restrictions:

• The external organization must be a non-profit and must provide proof of this status.
• The organization must obtain a sponsor, a Rice faculty member who will attest that the planned event would conform to Rice policies and purposes.
• The event must conform to scheduling parameters:
  • General calendar restrictions
    • January – rooms are not available
    • February through April – no earlier than 3:00pm on weekdays
    • May through July – room requests are considered only after May 1
    • August and September – rooms are not available
    • October through December – no earlier than 3:00pm on weekdays
  • Room use October-April shall consist of infrequent (no more than once in four months) single-day events. Room use May-July may consist of events longer than one day.
  • Rooms are reserved no more than three months in advance, because classrooms are allocated for Rice classes and events prior to being made available for rental.
• No food or drink allowed in Rice classrooms. Food may be consumed elsewhere, including the RMC/Ley Student Center.
• Payment by check to “Rice University” only; no other form of payment can be accepted. At least two weeks prior to room use, check must be sent to Classroom Manager, Rice University, Office of the Registrar, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251.

Room rental rates for a single use of up to four hours in one classroom:

1. After considering the above restrictions, room sizes, and costs, if the non-profit organization is still interested in trying to use a general use classroom, the requester does the following:
   1. prepares an Event Summary, including the following details:
      • name of requester
      • name of non-profit organization
      • name of event
      • purpose of event
      • date
      • start and end time
      • expected number of attendees
      • whether the public will be invited to attend
   2. provides Event Summary with proof of non-profit status to Classroom Manager (Chris Higgins, chiggins@rice.edu) to discuss availability. For summer programs which will last more than one day and/or will require dining or lodging services at Rice, Rice’s administration must review and approve the Event Summary before discussion of room availability will occur
   3. seeks to obtain a Rice faculty sponsor (see sponsor restriction above)
   4. provides Event Summary to sponsor
   5. notifies Classroom Manager of name of sponsor
2. Classroom Manager provides Facilities Request Approval and Conditions for Use forms to sponsor.
3. The sponsor:
   1. provides Conditions for Use form to requester
   2. and Sponsor’s dean complete Facilities Request Approval form
   3. returns completed form for review by Classroom Manager and President's office
4. Classroom Manager reserves available room for requester
5. Rice Police Department addresses requester’s plans for event security and logistics, as necessary
6. Requester provides signed Conditions for Use form and rental payment two weeks prior to event

There are other spaces at Rice which are not classrooms and which may be available for use by an external organization:

• http://rooms.rice.edu/ to request banquet hall and conference rooms at Rice Memorial Center
• http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~hamman/ to request 475-seat auditorium at Hamman Hall
• http://music.rice.edu/ to request performance studios and concert halls at Alice Pratt Brown Hall