Room scheduling process overview
When you complete an event request in Astra, you will receive an email acknowledgement of the room request. However, this acknowledgement is not a confirmation of a room reservation. Please wait to advertise your event location until you have received a formal room confirmation.
When OCM schedules your event, you will receive an event confirmation via email. This can be used to document the approved use of the room. Room requests are not approved until the confirmation is issued. If you have questions, contact ocmevent@umn.edu.
Approval and ownership of space
OCM coordinates room scheduling for all general purpose classrooms and general purpose study spaces.
Academic or departmental units that manage their own space are solely responsible for the management, scheduling, and policies that govern those spaces. OCM scheduling guidelines may not apply.
When to submit your request
- Maximum of one year in advance; minimum of 14 days in advance is recommended.
- Requests submitted with less than 14 days’ notice are reviewed and assigned as space allows in accordance with the event scheduling guidelines.
Scheduling priority
There are no guaranteed spaces for special events. Priority is given to credited academic classes and their final exams. Scheduling priority is as follows:
- Academic classes and final exams; classes must be placed before rooms open to any event activity.
- Academic-related events; occurs after classes are placed and before rooms are opened for general event use.
- All other meetings and events.
Scheduling queue
Room reservations for events are made one semester at a time. Room requests for upcoming semesters are held in a queue as tentative until academic classes are completely scheduled for the term (approximately two weeks prior to the start of the semester). When event scheduling opens for the requested term, room requests are processed in the order in which they were received.
- Saturday and evening requests are filled first.
- Weekday requests are filled second.
- Some primetime requests (Monday-Thursday, 9:00 a.m.—2:00 p.m.) are not able to be processed until the first week of the semester.
Event scheduling period by term
- Fall semester event requests: event scheduling starts in mid-August
- Spring semester event requests: event scheduling starts in early January
- Summer term event requests: scheduling starts in late April
- Finals exam week (all semesters) event requests: event scheduling starts two weeks prior to finals week. Per Senate Policy, no events requiring student participation may be scheduled during exam week and no exams will be scheduled on Study Days.
Modifications to event requests
In some instances, room requests cannot be processed as requested. In these situations, OCM will make minor modifications to your request before scheduling it. Please see below for some examples.
- Alternate rooms
- Scheduling will assign each reservation to the most appropriate space available. Requests for specific rooms or spaces will be honored when possible. Scheduling reserves the right to re-assign space when necessary and to identify suitable alternative space for the original reservation. Scheduling will solely determine room availability.
- Time changes
- There will be a minimum of 15 minutes between scheduled events.
- Saturday requests
- Classrooms will be assigned in buildings with Saturday hours.
- Cancellations
- Events will not be scheduled on official University holidays.
- If the University experiences an emergency closing due to weather, utility failure, or other unforeseen disaster, the event is considered canceled.
- Events with meetings that extend between two terms will have current term meetings scheduled and future term meetings canceled. OCM only schedules one semester at a time.
- If there are no rooms available, your request will be canceled.
- If your student group is not registered with SUA, your request will be canceled.
- If you are not a registered officer for your student group, your request will be canceled.