Managing Campus Ministries & Student Org Event Space Use

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Managing Campus Ministries & Student Org Event Space Use

Posted by Sadie Katie Hampton on September 16, 2025 at 5:50 pm

Hello everyone,

I wanted to bring a question to the community to see how other unions are managing a situation we’re working through.

We are ENG funded with a $0 budget and, for the first time this year, added a small student fee that helps cover some operational costs. That said, we are still largely revenue dependent. Our portfolio includes three spaces:
Main student union ballroom
280-seat theatre
An large outdoor grassy area with a stage
Another ballroom (about half the size of the main one) on the opposite end of campus

Last year, we were able to make all student events in the student union free. To sustain that, we rely heavily on revenue from campus departments and external clients.

The challenge:< Several of our student organizations are campus ministries that function as branches of local churches. While officially student orgs, they are primarily supported by their churches and regularly hold large-scale weekly services in our ballrooms. These events require major set-up and resources but bring in $0 revenue, since student org events are free. The result is that these recurring services occupy high-demand spaces that could otherwise be used for revenue-generating events, which are crucial to keeping student org events free and our facilities operational.

Questions for you all:

Do you have campus ministries or similar groups utilizing your large event spaces on a weekly basis?
Do you have any rules or limitations on how frequently student orgs can reserve ballrooms/theatres?
How do you manage this balance (or how would you manage it under your current policies/procedures)?
Is your union ENG funded or revenue dependent?

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Managing Campus Ministries & Student Org Event Space Use

Managing Campus Ministries & Student Org Event Space Use