The university’s risk management team determined any university sanctioned “free time only” trips to New York City and Washington, DC must be cancelled through the end of the fall semester due to purported safety concerns.

An email from Risk Management Contract Manager Richel Perretti was sent out to all groups affected by the decision. It’s unclear how many groups are affected.

“Risk Management has determined that any ‘free time only’ trips to New York City or Washington DC through the end of the Fall 2015 semester must be cancelled due to safety concerns,” the email reads. “Students should be refunded any expense they paid for their seat on the bus or other mode of transportation.”

In typical risk-management, bureaucrat fashion, the email does not go into any more details about the decision to not trust college students to go on trips without faculty supervision.

Academic field trips with structured activities in groups that include a university faculty member are allowed to go as long as all unstructured free time is eliminated. Additionally, service trips that include a community service component can continue as long as there is no free time on the itinerary.

The fact academic and service trips are still allowed to travel begs the question of how big the risk actually is. If there are viable safety concerns, they are still a factor regardless if you’re walking downtown, touring a museum, or cleaning up trash.

Trips that are not strictly leisure but don’t fall under academic or service will be reviewed on a case by case basis, according to the email. Trips planned for the spring semester must have there itinerary reviewed to determine if any modifications are needed.