Guidelines

Building access • Board of Trustees • Commencement • Credentials • Filming on campus • FOIA • Parking • President • Political campaigns • Special events • Student information

Access to residence halls/classrooms

• Public areas of residence halls, such as reception areas and TV lounges, are open to media during the hours that the residence halls are open to the public. As a courtesy, please let the residence hall manager know that you intend to visit. Individual hall telephone listings are at http://www.hfs.msu.edu/uh/
• Living and dining areas of residence halls, such as dining rooms, individual rooms and residence area hallways, are not open to the media or the public.
• An individual student may choose to grant a reporter or photographer access to his or her residence hall room. In those instances, the media representative may accompany the student into the individual student's living area.
• Classrooms generally are not open to the public or to the media while class is in session. Individual professors may grant media access to class sessions. Please arrange that with the professor ahead of time.

How to contact the Board of Trustees

Board members list specific contact information in the MSU Faculty and Staff Directory, which is mailed to newsrooms statewide each fall semester; to get an additional copy, call MSU Media Communications at (517) 355-2281. Board members also may be contacted through their campus office at (517) 353-4647. For further information about the Board, including a list of scheduled meetings, check http://trustees.msu.edu/

Commencement

• MSU holds universitywide commencement activities twice each year: In early May and in early December. May ceremonies include a campuswide convocation, which includes a major speaker; a graduate degree ceremony; and individual college ceremonies at which baccalaureate degrees are conferred. December ceremonies include two large commencement exercises -- one in the morning, one in the afternoon -- for the conferral of baccalaureate degrees, plus a graduate degree ceremony. All are open to media.
• Reporters and photographers must show identification from their news organization to gain access to media platforms at commencement and convocation.
• Major speakers for commencement typically are announced by the university several weeks before the ceremony.
• Occasionally, special credentials may be required to cover commencement activities. Media will be informed ahead of time if that it the case.
• Photographers who wish to take photos from the floor of the Breslin Center during commencement and convocation ceremonies must be escorted from the media platform by MSU staff designated to help them.

Credentials

In general, credentials are not required to cover day-to-day activities on campus. Occasionally MSU requires media to be credentialed for events of high interest or limited capacity. In those cases, media representatives will be informed in advance.

Filming on campus

• MSU's open, park-like campus makes it an ideal setting for filming of daily events and activities. Special permission to film for daily news stories and events is not typically required.
• Entry to campus buildings may be limited; see above guidelines on access to residence halls and classrooms.
• In the event of a critical incident or emergency requiring police or fire response, access to areas usually open to media may be limited to allow emergency personnel to ensure safety and security. In those instances, media should follow guidelines at the site of the incident.
• See below for guidelines on filming for purposes other than news, such as political advertisements.

Freedom of Information Act requests

Send FOIA requests to Ellen Armentrout, Freedom of Information officer, 102 Olds Hall, East Lansing, Mich., 48824, or fax them to Armentrout at (517) 353-1794.

Parking on campus

• Local media who cover MSU as a regular beat and who frequently are on campus in that capacity may obtain a parking pass through the Office of Media Communications that allows them access to faculty/staff parking areas. Those requests are subject to the approval of the director.
• Media who occasionally come to campus for stories may request a one-day parking pass a day or two before they intend to arrive; it can be mailed out or picked up in the Media Communications office located at 403 Olds Hall on arrival at MSU.
• Others should park in metered parking areas or fee lots that are open to the public during business hours. Designated faculty/staff areas typically are open to the public daily after 6 p.m. and most of the weekend. Information on public parking is available at the campus visitors center at the Trowbridge Road entrance or in the Campus Guide, which is available in 403 Olds Hall.
• Some special events, such as commencement, may require special parking passes. Media will be informed ahead of time in such cases.
• Those who come to campus to cover athletics events should request parking accommodations through the Office of Sports Information, (517) 355-2272.
• Some parking spots are designated for use only by university-owned vehicles or are reserved for specific persons during business hours. Please watch for signs that limit parking and take them under consideration.

Political advertising/political campaigns

These guidelines relate solely to campaign advertising policies and procedures:

• Video and/or photographic use of MSU facilities and employees for production of partisan political products must not imply or infer any institutional endorsement through the use of identifiable logos or logotypes, marks, symbols or music.
• No partisan political advertisement should include endorsements/participation by titled university administrators who could be perceived as "endorsing" beyond their role as an individual citizen.
• No university employees should participate in on-campus political advertising production during work hours.
• No university employees should be involved -- willingly or unwillingly -- in work site campaign advertising production.
• While general outdoor campus location photographic or video shooting is allowed, interior shooting is limited to areas outside of office or laboratory work areas and outside of classrooms. All interior shooting must be cleared in advance with relevant departments and must not interfere in any way with university activities.
• Campaign production crews working at official university activities must abide by the same guidelines and standards of all media covering those activities, including meeting credentialing requirements when necessary.

How to contact President Lou Anna K. Simon

Please call the Office of the Vice President for University Relations, (517) 355-2262, to request an interview with President Simon.

Special events information

• The MSU Division of University Relations releases information to media regarding universitywide special events at the point at which speakers or participants have been confirmed.
• Staff at major venues for special entertainment events on campus, such as the Breslin Student Events Center and the Wharton Center for Performing Arts, typically handle media requests related to those events. Contact staff at those venues for information.
• Student organizations that host special activities typically handle their own publicity for those events.

Student status information (confirmation of status, alum, etc.)

The Office of Media Communications can confirm the following facts about current or former MSU students:

• Whether or not the person currently is enrolled.
• Whether or not he or she earned a degree, and if so, in what area of study.
• The year a degree was conferred.

It is helpful, although not essential, to have a birth date or other method to help identify the person, since there may be more than one listing of the same name in the system. In some cases there may be names of similar spelling; to avoid an incorrect report, please be sure you have the person's name correctly spelled.

Reporters also can use the MSU online directory at http://search.msu.edu/people/