Speakers Policy
University Speaker’s Policy
Purpose: Franciscan University of Steubenville (FUS) encourages academic departments as well as non-academic
departments and recognized student organizations within the University to extend invitations to speakers whose
appearance and presentations will advance and support the University’s mission as a Catholic Franciscan institution
of higher education. FUS is deeply committed to the academic exchange of ideas and supports engagement with
many points of view as is proper and necessary for the flourishing of the university and to prepare our students to
make their way in an increasingly secular world. FUS takes seriously John Paul II’s call for the Catholic university
to become “a primary and privileged place for a fruitful dialogue between the Gospel and culture” (Ex corde, para.
43), and therefore welcomes representatives of the culture as speakers at the University. At the same time, FUS is
committed to The Mission (rev. Dec. 2007) of the University and will not permit talks that undermine its mission,
cause confusion as to the teaching of the Magisterium, or allow presentations that are otherwise inappropriate to
our Christian and Catholic identity. The following points of this speaker’s policy secure these objectives.
1. All speakers must be approved in writing by the appropriate authority: academic speakers by the
appropriate department chair; and student life speakers by the sponsoring organization’s advisor for82
initial approval and the Vice President for Student Life or his designee for final approval At least ten
business days prior to the date of the proposed talk, signed approval forms for academic speakers will
be filed with the Office of Academic Affairs and for all other speakers with the Office of Student Life.
2. All academic speakers, including those initiated by academic student organizations, must be sponsored
by a regular (not adjunct) full-time member of the FUS faculty and his or her department. The
sponsoring faculty member must provide the chair of the sponsoring department with a curriculum
vitae or other appropriate description of the academic contributions of the proposed speaker. The
sponsoring faculty member shall attend the talk and, in the event that scandal or confusion about
church teaching results, will be responsible for offering the needed clarifications. While speakers may
disagree with the teaching of the Magisterium, the sponsoring faculty member and the department
chair are jointly responsible for seeing that attendees are given a clear understanding of the relevant
teaching of the Magisterium. They also bear joint responsibility for all appropriate advertising, room
reservations, travel arrangements, and honoraria. The chair is responsible for submitting a copy of the
approval form to the Dean of his or her School and to the office of the Vice President for Academic
Affairs (VPAA).
3. Please note and follow the University’s policy regarding visiting priests. All clerical speakers, priests
and deacons must be approved by the Vice President for Franciscan Life and the University Chaplain.
In order to concelebrate Mass or to exercise their pastoral ministry, all priests and deacons coming to the
University must submit a Letter of Good Standing directly to the Diocese of Steubenville. The Diocese of
Steubenville will accept requests for permission to exercise pastoral ministry only directly from another
diocese or religious community—not from a University department including the Office of Chapel
Ministries. If you are bringing in a speaker who is a priest or a deacon and who wishes to concelebrate Mass
or to exercise his pastoral ministry, please communicate to him that it is solely the responsibility of the
visiting cleric to submit his paperwork to the Diocese of Steubenville (https://diosteub.org/chancellor)—
not the University’s responsibility. When it comes to checking on the status of a request or on other
matters relating to clerical faculties, the Diocese communicates only with the Office of Chapel Ministries;
other University departments should not to contact the Diocese directly regarding faculty requests.
Conversely, sometimes visiting priests or deacons come to campus with no intention of exercising
their pastoral ministry or even concelebrating Mass. In these situations, the Diocese of Steubenville
is not involved in their visit since their presence within the Diocese does not include the exercise
of pastoral ministry. In such instances, no paperwork is required to be submitted to the Diocese.
However, the University still requires priests and deacons coming to visit campus for an extended
period (i.e., beyond a one-day visit), even when not exercising their pastoral ministry on campus, to
submit a Letter of Good Standing to the Office of Chapel Ministries dated within one month in order
to remain on campus.
4. Before extending an invitation, chairs shall bring to the attention of the VPAA for consideration any
speakers who they suspect may contradict the teachings of the Magisterium.
The President of FUS, the VPAA, and the Vice President for Student Life retain the right to disallow a specific
speaker or to revoke sponsoring rights from faculty members who have failed to live up to their obligations under
the above policy.
The Speaker Request Form may be obtained from the Office of Academic Affairs or Student Life.
[Revised 08/23/24]
I. Guest Speakers
Franciscan University of Steubenville encourages non-academic departments and recognized student organizations within the University to extend invitations to speakers whose appearance and presentation will advance and support the University’s mission as a Catholic Franciscan institution of higher education. The University reserves the right to deny approval for any speaker to make a presentation on campus whose appearance or presentation, in the judgment of the President or his designee, would compromise the University’s Mission or “promote propositions and values contrary to Catholic teaching” (Franciscan University Mission III.A.3.).
Sponsoring departments and student organizations must comply with the procedures outlined below.
Speakers sponsored by academic departments or academic student organizations are covered under a separate Faculty Sponsored Speaker Policy.
II. Internal Speakers
Faculty and staff speakers (not including academic speakers) that are advertised and/or open to the University community must be sponsored by a department or a recognized student organization and are subject to the procedures below.
Students giving a presentation that is advertised and/or open to the University community must be sponsored by a Student Life department, and are also subject to the procedures below.
The following exceptions are not required to complete a Speaker Request Form or to obtain prior approval:
- Faculty, staff, and students who give presentations that are not advertised and/or are not open to the University community (e.g., student organization business meeting or a household retreat)
- Speakers who have been approved by the Student Life Speaker’s Bureau
However, these speakers and sponsoring student organization(s) are still subject to the overall policy (i.e., must support the mission of the University) and are still required to submit any paperwork necessary for master calendar or facility purposes.
III. Procedure
- Sponsorship. The department or student organization that wishes to sponsor a speaker must complete the Speaker Request Form, which includes the name and background of the speaker, the proposed date/time/location of the presentation and the topic of the presentation. This form can be obtained from the J. C. Williams Center Information Desk, Student Life Office , or at MyFranciscan.edu. The sponsoring department or student organization is responsible for all arrangements and costs related to the speaker, and a member of the sponsoring department or student organization must attend the speaker’s presentation.
- Speaker Approval. All non-academic University departments and recognized student organizations must submit their Speaker Request Form to, and receive prior written approval from, the vice president of Student Life or his designee. This approval may require certain conditions to be met, e.g., the presence of the student organization’s advisor or another appropriate faculty or staff member at the presentation.
- Master Calendar/Room Reservations. Once approval has been granted by the vice president of Student Life or his designee, the written approval will be copied to the director of Student Activities and Programming for the purpose of master calendar approval. Approval of a speaker by the appropriate administrator does not guarantee availability on the master calendar or the availability of a specific room on campus.
- Advertisement. Sponsoring groups may not advertise a speaker until prior written approval has been obtained from the appropriate administrator. All advertisements must comply with the University’s Sign and Advertisement Policy.
- Vending. Speakers who wish to sell merchandise on campus must comply with the Policy on Campus Fundraising, Solicitation, and Vending.