Through LU Send, Liberty University strives to partner with faculty and staff to provide quality academic experiences with minimal risk to the students. With that in mind, here are some policies that have been put in place, along with some guidelines that can assist with providing a positive experience for our faculty and students.

Submit Trip Proposal

Domestic Proposal Deadlines

*The dates below are for trips that operate as a full LU Send Trip. These trips are overnight, more than 50 miles away from Liberty’s campus, include culture immersion, academic credit (or CSER credit), and a service opportunity. An LU Send Trip Coordinator manages the logistics, budget, excused absences, out of bed requests, etc. Proposals should be sent in 9 months before departure.

All of the proposal dates are hard deadlines. All of the proposal dates are hard deadlines that are set 9 months before departure. Proposals that are received after the set deadline will not be approved.

Trip Dates	Proposal Deadlines
January/Early Spring (2023)	April 1, 2022
Spring Break (2023)	June 15, 2022
Summer May/June (2023)	August 15, 2022
Summer July/August (2023)	October 1, 2022
Fall (2023)	February 15, 2023

*If your trip does not operate as a full LU Send trip (does not require logistical support, budget, academic credit, or have culture/service opportunities) you will need to submit all proposals at least a month before departure. This will give us enough time to get excused absence request/approvals, assumption of risk, and out of bed request in time for your departure. If you are not able to get this request in this time frame, please email lusend@liberty.edu for further information.

Trip Proposal Process

As the centralized hub for all student group travel, LU Send ensures risk mitigation, a smooth approval process, and executive reporting to the Provost. Having processed 200+ academic trips per academic year, we are glad to walk with you in providing exceptional student group travel opportunities within the United States!

Please contact Audrey Hammond, Executive Director, by email or by phone (434-592-4204), to learn more about the proposal process.

For all other inquiries, please email lusend@liberty.edu.

LU Send will communicate the proposal’s approval status to the faculty/staff lead. Approved proposals will be moved into the trip development process.

Faculty-Led Trips

LU Send is the centralized hub of support for all student travel and processes all faculty-led academic/co-curricular trips. Faculty/Staff who wish to host a group of students on a domestic or international trip must work with LU Send to obtain approval and support for those trips, whether during the semester or during breaks.

Under no circumstances should faculty be leading students off-campus without first working with LU Send & the Provost office.

Excused Absence Requests for Local/Day trips less than 50 miles from Liberty University.

• Each department/club will designate one person to disperse all excused absence requests to students who in turn will provide this request to necessary professors and/or other faculty/staff. All local (less than 50 miles) and day trip requests should be approved by the Dean or Club’s faculty Advisor, and sent directly to the Provost office for final approval in the provided format.
• All forms must be approved by the Dean of the faculty member’s department prior to being processed.

Overnight and/or more than 50 miles from Liberty University

All excused absences that are overnight or outside of 50 miles from Liberty’s campus can be found within the application for a student to download, fill out, and provide to necessary professors and/or other faculty/staff. These requirements exist for the following reasons:

• These trips are required to meet certain university standards that LU Send will ensure are clearly communicated to faculty, and policies and procedures are being met.
• These trips require the student to sign an Assumption of Risk Form. LU Send will work with the faculty and student to make sure this is taken care of.

All trips must be approved by the Dean of the Faculty member’s department. Additionally, all trips located out of the State of Virginia will need to be approved by the State Approvals office prior to being processed

State Approvals

Liberty University is an institutional participant with NC-SARA which allows the university to offer our programs and conduct certain activities outside of the state of Virginia. However, NC-SARA does limit the activities the University can conduct without first obtaining approval from the destination state. Some of the activities that require approval are multi-night out of state trips, faculty and/or student led instruction such as debriefings and trips that lead to academic credit.

Please be advised that the Office of State Approvals cannot guarantee the destination state will approve a trip that exceeds the limitations of NC-SARA. For additional information or guidance please reach out to The Office of State Approvals at stateapprovals@liberty.edu.

General Policy

Domestic Student Travel encompasses a large variety of trips, but there are a few policies that apply to all travel:

• Students cannot be leads on a trip, but GSAs can support leads on a trip.
• The academic lead needs to be qualified and approved if not the professor (such as a GSA or another faculty member)
• Overnight trips must have both a female and a male leader if there are both genders participating.
• All drivers must be approved by Transit to drive the vehicle chosen for the trip.
• Leaders taking students to an endorsed event outside the local area* should transport them with either a rental vehicle or an LU vehicle.
• Domestic Student Travel abides by Liberty University’s travel policies & procedures as set by the Procurement office.

*as per Liberty University’s travel policies, the local area is considered to be within 50 miles of campus.

We take the safety and security of our students seriously, here are a few guidelines to help our leaders be prepared for possible situations:

• Be conscious of how it would play out if one of the students becomes ill or injured and needs medical care. Who would stay with the student? Who would stay with the other students? Preferably, students should not be left alone without supervision. This would also apply to any situation that separates the group.
• Plan accordingly to eliminate as many Title IX situations as possible.
• Be aware of the liability of driving students in a personal vehicle as opposed to a rental or LU vehicle. It may be wise to budget for those last-minute traveling needs at the end of the semester/year.
• Advisable for all leaders to read Procurement’s Travel Policies & Procedures and Sign the Policy Acknowledgement Letter.
• Register your trip as soon as possible to ensure that all facets of the process are done in a timely manner.