Covered activities
A page within Youth Programs
The purpose
The purpose of UWL Youth Protection Policy is to establish campus standards for the protection of minors engaged in covered activities.
What is a Covered Activity?
Covered activities are all events, operations, endeavors, or activities, regardless of location, that are designed for participation by youth participants and organized, sponsored and/or operated by the institution. All covered activities are classified into one of four program types.
Youth Program Types
Programs that meet the following criteria:
It is a Covered Activity that is organized, sponsored, and/or operated by UWL, regardless of location. Minors attend with an accompanying parent, guardian, or third-party chaperone. The UWL staff are not, at any time, solely responsible for the supervision, care, or control of the attending minors.
Examples include:
On-Campus Field Trips: A single-day visit where students remain under the care of teachers/non-UWL chaperones for the duration of the visit. Transportation to-and-from campus is arranged by the visiting third-party.
Off-Campus Facilities Visits: A single-day visit where students remain under the care of teachers/non-UWL chaperones for the duration of the visit and the event is sponsored by UWL. This might be part of a larger program, or a trip from campus to another location. Transportation, if arranged by UWL, is subject to UWL’s Youth Policy, including minimum supervision ratios and requirements for drivers, including the UWL Driver Authorization Policy.
Programs that meet the following criteria:
It is a Covered Activity organized, sponsored, and/or operated by UWL, regardless of location. The program’s staff are UWL employees and/or volunteers, and are temporarily responsible for the supervision, care, or control of the attending minors, without accompanying parents, guardians, or chaperones.
Examples include:
Single-Day/Multi-Day Commuter program: Youth Participants are dropped- off and then picked up at the end of the day rather than staying overnight as part of the program activities. In multi-day programs, youth return for another day of activities as part of the same program.
Overnight Program: Youth Participants remain under UWL custodial care for the duration of a multi-day program.
Overnight Parent/Guardian/Chaperone Attendees Program: Youth Participants remain under the shared custodial care of their parents, guardian or chaperone and UWL staff for the duration of a multi-day program. UWL establishes mandatory requirements for usage of shared spaces, agenda structuring and program staff supervision plans.
Programs that meet the following criteria:
It is a Covered Activity that is held on property owned or leased by UWL that is organized, sponsored, and/or operated by a third-party entity. Minors attend with an accompanying parent, guardian, or chaperone. The program’s staff are not, at any time, responsible for the supervision, care, or control of the attending minors. It does not have the characteristics of a general public event or private event.
Examples include:
Community Youth Event: A third-party organization rents campus facilities to invite organization members, parents and their children to a single-day program, such as an awards ceremony or celebration, and the event is not open to the general public.
Programs that meet the following criteria:
It is a Covered Activity held on property owned or leased by UWL that is organized, sponsored, and/or operated by a third-party. The program’s staff are temporarily or fully responsible for the supervision, care, or control of the Youth Participants. The event will be required to follow UWL’s minimum supervision ratio, volunteer policies, and sign a youth protection contract with UWL.
Examples include:
Third-party Single Day Program: This could be a school club using campus facilities, or an external community organization, and is not explicitly sponsored by UW-La Crosse. Parents, guardians and teachers are either not present, or working on behalf of the third-party and may be supervising non-familial youth.
Third-party Overnight Program: A third-party using UWL housing facilities for an overnight stay. The third-party program staff are responsible for participant safety.
All event staff serving through a third-party (including UWL employees) are subject to UWL’s youth protection volunteer requirements.
Some programs might include both youth and adults registered attendees/participants in shared spaces. This type of event is not recommended, but plans can be made to facilitate these events with explicit approval from the CYPS so long as the program is properly prepared to meet policy requirements.
Which activities are exempt from youth policy?
The policy only applies to events which are targeted toward youth participants in covered activities.
Activities that are exempt from this policy include:
- Events open to the general public,
- For-credit courses (i.e., individuals under age 18 who enrolled in for-credit courses as college students),
- Medical care provided to minors in in-patient or out-patient settings
- Institutional Review Board-approved research,
- Daycare and preschool services operating under the direction of a licensed daycare or healthcare provider,
- Private events, or
- Minors participating in pre-enrollment visitation or recruiting activities governed by the NCAA.
UWL staff at non-UWL sponsored programs occurring at venues other than UWL.
If an event or UWL staff member’s activity is conducted in an outside venue that is not publicly marketed as a UWL-sponsored event, the event is exempted from UWL’s Youth Protection Policy. A UWL staff member acting as a volunteer (paid or unpaid) on behalf of a non-sponsored, off-campus program is exempt so long as the UWL staff member does not assume Custodial Care of the youth. This exemption is true even if the UWL staff member is acting in the capacity of their UWL role.
Examples include:
- K–12 school visits where the student’s teacher or facility staff is actively present. Actively present means at no point will the UWL staff member inadvertently assume care of youth due to considerable gaps in teacher or facility staff supervision.
- Staff volunteering at a non-UWL community program where parents and guardians are with their children.
Note: All UWL employees are expected to adhere to position of trust requirements regardless of location and UWL sponsorship, if the off-campus volunteer requirements are such that the staff member will have unsupervised or significant access to minors.