Catastrophic Events and Continuity of Operations
Crisis and emergency management preparation is an essential function for the University of Rhode Island (“URI”). URI maintains and adheres to specific policies and procedures regarding crisis situations, catastrophic events, and program discontinuances in order to minimize the length of time that students’ educational activities are disrupted and, when applicable, minimize the length of time that students, faculty, and staff are displaced.
1. Continuity of Operations
URI’s Policy on Adverse Weather and Other Events provides information regarding URI operations during adverse weather, natural disasters, and other emergencies.
URI’s Office of Emergency Management is responsible for emergency planning, response, mitigation, and recovery. It maintains URI’s emergency operations plan and coordinates the university’s response to all-hazards incidents.
URI leverages available technologies to minimize the likelihood of noticeable service interruption. URI’s Office of Information Technology Services ensures that systems are protected from vulnerabilities, adequately secured, and backed up to prevent record destruction and/or data loss.
2. Program Discontinuances
URI addresses program discontinuances on a case-by-case basis due to the specific needs of each degree or program path. This allows the university to better serve the needs of individual students. In the unlikely event that URI cannot deliver the instruction for which students have enrolled, the university commits to one or more of the following courses of action, depending on each individual student’s needs:
- Providing a reasonable alternative for delivering instruction and/or services for which students have paid.
- Providing a reasonable financial refund for the education students did not receive.
- Providing assistance with transferring earned credits to other institutions.
URI students will be notified by the university administration and then counseled about their options by their advisors.