Quick Links

• Public Bulletin Boards
• Teardown Policy
• Athena Clusters
• Violations
• Chalking
• Changes During Recruitment Moratorium

Public Bulletin Boards

Paper event posters are the most effective means of publicizing your group’s events to the MIT community. There are many public bulletin boards in high-traffic areas on campus that your group should take advantage of when publicizing for events, however, you should be aware of the public postering policies.

General rules       

• One poster per event per board
• Up to 22" x 17" TOTAL PER GROUP PER BOARD [added 8/2011]
• Poster only in designated spaces
• MIT groups have priority
• You must include the sponsoring party and contact information
• You must date your posters

What you CAN do

• Use flat flyers up to 22" x 17"
• Poster over repeated flyers
• Poster over flyers of past events
• Poster over non-MIT flyers if the boards are full

What you can NOT do

• Never, ever, tear down other posters; poster over them, if applicable above, but do not tear them down
• Never poster outside designated areas (e.g. on windows, doors, walls, etc. This includes Athena Cluster windows, the E25 Atrium, and the 8-16 Stairwell)
• Don't poster over current flyers

Publicizing Alcohol Related Events

MIT has strict guidelines about advertising events where alcohol will be present. Please see the Student Life Programs advertising guidelines for more details.

Teardown Policy

Officially, posters are torn down by Facilities personnel every Monday and Friday morning. The actual teardown time will vary depending on staffing that evening, the route that they travel through the Institute, and whether other duties interfere.

Athena Clusters

IS&T and the ASA have reached an agreement to allow student group postering in Athena Clusters. Groups are permitted to place posters on the bulletin boards in Athena Clusters provided:

• Groups remove their own posters after the event (Facilities does not clear these boards)
• No official IS&T posters are covered
• All above rules for public postering are followed

Violations

Contact the ASA Executive Board to report any violations.

Sanctions

The ASA has established the following sanction mechanism:

• For anything other than postering outside designated areas, groups will receive a warning.
• After a warning, or for postering outside of designated areas, the ASA will use the following fine structure:
• 1st offense: $25.00
• 2nd offense: $50.00
• 3rd offense: $100.00

The fine doubles with each subsequent offense during each term.

Chalking

Facilities, CAC, and The ASA have reached an agreement to allow student groups to continue "chalking" on campus. Groups may use chalk to advertise events on sidewalks provided:

• All chalking is done only on walkways and paths around campus, NOT on vertical surfaces such as the sides of buildings and also NOT on the stairs to Lobby 7 or the Student Center
• Chalking may only be done with washable chalk
• Facilities has a rule that classroom boards may not be used for advertising; groups may be fined by Facilities for doing so

In addition to possible sanctions from the ASA, groups may be charged by CAC or Facilities for cleaning costs.

Changes During Recruitment Moratorium

During the three weeks prior to the Activites Midway the ASA Recruitment Rules also affect advertising and postering rules. Please read the Recruitment Rules for complete details. Changes and important points include:

• One poster no larger than 8.5"x11" per group may be posted per board
• No handing out flyers
• All publicity guideline violations will be fined at triple the rate listed above
• Fines may be assessed (instead of warnings) for first offenses
• ASA may assess additional fines for egregious violations

Institute Events Office Infinite Corridor Fixed Poster Displays

As part of the recent Infinite Corridor renovations and removal of display easels from public pedestrian pathways on campus, there are now fixed poster displays along this corridor. Groups may reserve a pair (east and west, each marked accordingly) of these display units for a maximum of 7 days per event. There are six opportunities in each direction along the Infinite Corridor for these poster displays.

Reservations are available and will be managed on a first-come, first-serve basis. Please contact Gayle Gallagher (gayle@mit.edu) for more information, including an application.