Introduction

Partnering with other student organizations to co-host social or philanthropic events is a common and valued part of campus life. However, these co-sponsored events increase your chapter’s liability—and potentially that of your national organization—beyond what you’d face by simply attending an event as a guest.

As a co-sponsor of an event, your chapter’s liability, or duty of care, is elevated. Because of this elevated liability, it is crucial you engage in good risk management to ensure your event is safe for attendees. This responsibility should not be delegated to the other co-sponsoring organization and you must be an active participant in this important part of hosting an event.

Managing Risk as a Co-Sponsor

Good risk management starts at the beginning of the event planning process. If you are not going to be part of planning the event, you should never agree to co-sponsor. Don’t bring this increased liability to your chapter if you are not going to have an influence on the event and its focus on being safe. There have been cases where chapters were held liable for injuries at events they didn’t help organize, simply because they agreed to co-sponsor. These have resulted in serious and expensive legal claims—a reminder that putting your chapter’s name on an event carries real responsibility.

Before agreeing to co-sponsor, make sure the partnering organization is adequately insured. Just as you would require proof of insurance from a venue, the same should apply to your co-sponsor. If the other organization lacks adequate coverage at acceptable limits of liability, your chapter could be left to shoulder most of the financial burden in the event of a claim.

Where a co-sponsor or third party, such as a venue, is not insured or inadequately insured, it will likely fall on the sorority to cover most of the costs of the claim(s). In the history of the sorority insurance program, we have had several situations where a co-sponsoring organization, such as a men’s fraternity, did not have sufficient limits, and the sorority policy was forced to pay more for the claim than their negligence equated to in the incident.

Spotlight on Co-Sponsoring Events with Men’s Fraternities

In many cases, the other co-sponsor is a men’s fraternity and the co-sponsored event is held on the men’s fraternity’s property. As owners of the property, they are in a much better position to control potentially risky exposures, such as egress from a building, proper lighting of the exterior, etc. Liability follows control and as the owner of the property their liability should be greater than that of a guest to the property, like the co-sponsoring sorority. All the more reason why the men’s fraternity should have sufficient limits of insurance.

Conclusion

Co-sponsored events can be successful and safe, but only when all parties take risk management seriously and are properly insured. If those conditions aren’t met, the event should not move forward.