COvid-19 policies

See our page for current information on club policies regarding COVID-19.

All trips must be compliant with COVID-19 policies to be eligible for reimbursement, and gear rental is subject to additional constraints. We take safety very seriously - failure to adhere to club COVID-19 policies may result in loss of membership privileges.

Reimbursement Policies

1. Consistent with the policy of the Student Activities office, all reimbursement requests are to be submitted to the club treasurer within two weeks of the end date of a club trip. Exceptions will be considered only if the treasurer or president is contacted with a reasonable request for an extension. Violations of this policy will result in no reimbursement being issued.

2. For a trip to be eligible for reimbursements, it must meet the following requirements:

   • Announced to the appropriate d-list at least 24 hours in advance (preferably more)

   • Open to all qualified members (i.e. you can't announce a trip that's already filled up with your friends, but it is OK to require a certain minimum skill level)

   • Attended by at least 2 student members

   • Added to the Mini Trip Reports page (this is the officer's responsibility - if no officer was involved in running the trip, e-mail us with trip details, including where/when/what/how many people)

   • Pre-registered with SLICE, attended by at least one SPSA, and conducted in line with all club and school policies regarding pandemic safety. Indoor trips are not allowed at this time and will not be reimbursed.

3. You must be a dues-paid club member to receive a reimbursement.

4. The Explorer's Club issues reimbursements for the following types of expenses. Training expenses cannot be combined with transportation and activity fee reimbursements.

   • Transportation - Gas and tolls, but NOT rental cars. Receipts are required for tolls. Gas is reimbursed by mileage at a rate determined by CMU. All members (students and non-students) are eligible for transportation reimbursement.

   • Activity Fees - Up to $20/person/day (3 day maximum). If the activity cost is less than $20, you will be reimbursed the entire amount. To receive an activity fee reimbursement the member must be a current student or get approval from the club president, treasurer, and faculty advisor. Car rental will be considered as an activity fee with prior approval by an officer. Food/restaurants are not generally activity fees.

   • Training - Members can be reimbursed for individual training sessions, as per the activity fee reimbursement policy (training should clearly benefit the club and be preannounced). Should a more advanced and expensive training be desired discuss with club officers.

To request reimbursement for an eligible expense, complete the Expense Reimbursement Request form and provide basic information about the trip, and a description of each receipt you are requesting full/partial reimbursement for. 

·         If receipt does not show proof of payment you must also submit banking statements with payee name, vendor name & last four digits of card number or canceled check image (front & back)

·         A bank/credit card statement by itself does not suffice as a receipt

Please email jaolsen@andrew.cmu.edu with any questions regarding reimbursement requests. The total reimbursement procedure may take 4-6 weeks for processing.

non-pandemic reimbursement process (here for archival purposes only)

Photos/scans of the receipts should both be saved in case of an issue, and originals/hard copies should submitted with the reimbursement form to UC Box 64 taped to separate sheets of paper paperclipped to the reimbursement form. You may tape several receipts to the same sheet of paper. Failure to do so may result in your reimbursement not being processed.

Once the ER paper form is submitted and initiated by SLICE, (after CMU X Treasurers process) the payee/reimbursee will receive a system generated email that informs them that their reimbursement has been submitted for payment.

Do not combine receipts from multiple trips into a single form - use a separate form for each trip. 

Upon completion, go to the Cohon University Center and ask the desk attendant by the mailboxes to put the completed form and attached papers with receipts (use paperclips!) in mailbox #64. Scrap paper, tape, and paperclips are available in the SLICE office in the CUC.

To speed up processing and avoid having to deposit a check, it is highly encouraged that you include banking information to allow direct deposit. This will need to be submitted with the direct deposit paper form available at the SLICE office. This only needs to be done once!

Gear Checkout Policies - Members

1. Any dues-paid Explorers Club member is entitled to borrow club equipment for themselves. Dues are $20 paid annually and make sure you fill out the membership form found on the “Join Explorers!” tab! Members may borrow equipment for at most one non-member per outing for an additional $20 fee per outing.

2. Gear checkout and return must be properly recorded using the equipment checkout log spreadsheet (the officer checking gear out to you will help you fill this out).

3. The borrowing club member may be assessed a fee related to the replacement cost of the borrowed equipment if that equipment is not returned in a timely manner, as per the indicated expected return date. Extensive damage to borrowed gear, or loss of gear altogether, may induce a charge upon the borrower pending review by the club leadership.

4. At the discretion of the president, quartermaster, or other club officer, trip leaders may be granted special gear access privileges. Trip leaders have priority access to gear that is being used for a publicized club-wide event.

Gear checkout and return is by appointment and please contact our quartermaster ahead of time to arrange a check out or return via Slack. (Weekly gear checkout will NOT happen if no one indicates that they are coming.) Alternative appointments may be possible by contacting the officers list (see below).

Gear Checkout Policies - Non-Members

A non-Explorers Club group or organization may use Explorers Club equipment if and only if:

1. The group or organization is officially affiliated with Carnegie Mellon University
   

2. The items being borrowed were purchased under the condition that they be made available to other official university organizations. This includes the following items:
   
   -MSR miniworks filters
   -MSR Whisperlite stoves
   -MSR stainless steel cook kits
   -Sierra Designs OA, OC, and C3 tents
   -Cascade Designs Ridgerests
   -REI 20°F sleeping bags
   -EMS backpacks
   

3. The president or other representative of the organization completes a copy of the official Gear Request Form for Non-Explorers Club Organizations. (This form is also available both at our storeroom and online at our Documents page.)

Contact an Explorers Club officer to schedule a gear checkout appointment.

Disabilities

If you need accommodations for a disability, please cc ODR in your response to the trip leader.  Trip leaders are often more aware of the range of conditions that could occur on a trip than especially beginner participants who we want to help get out into positive outdoors experiences, though it can be difficult and time-consuming to try to articulate all those possibilities up front.  It is also important for trip leaders to know of conditions that participants may have which could affect their safety or significantly affect their experiences when presented with certain situations, so that trip leaders can more effectively respond in what can sometimes be rapidly changing wilderness situations, or plan trips and routes to avoid what might otherwise unintentionally present special hazards to some group members.  Please work with the Office of Disability Resources and the trip leader to help them understand what accommodations are required, and what your abilities and challenges are.  We recognize that not all disabilities are physical.  In many cases, accommodations can be made or turn out to be not necessary except in contingencies, but good communication is important.  In addition to Explorers Club trips, we also recommend Three Rivers Adaptive Sports, an organization with similar objectives and geography but no formal University affiliation.