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I have been measuring courses in the west Alabama area for about 12 years. Most of the courses are in Tuscaloosa (where most of the runners are). Over that time period there has been a change in attitude of the local university about access to roads within their jurisdiction.

The Tuscaloosa Half Marathon will be in it's fifth year in 2017, and I've had to measure three different courses so far, and will be doing a new one for 2017. One of the main reasons being we have been denied permission to run on any road within the boundary of said university. The reason apparently is that there is "nothing in it for them". The way the university is situated in town makes getting 13.1 miles of safe, interesting running extremely hard.

Does anyone else have this problem with a public college or university?
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It can be common to be refused access to education based facilities, most are private roadways. Security and General Services fees can be applied.

The race can expect to have the facility named on it's insurance policy and sign off on a Facility Rental Agreement, which details the Liability Terms and Agreement. There can also be a Facility Rental Contract which lists the charges which can be applied should added Security or such is required. In one case for 200m of roadway.
Maybe you could get some alumni interested in a race to raise money for some program at the university.

Another thought, it may be someone at the university who feels this way-- but there may be others who would actually like to see races continue to use the campus this way (good community relations is one point they might want to consider). Or offer to make them a sponsor with credit on shirts or something in return for their "donation" of permission to run on the roads.

Just fishing here-- my direct answer is yes, I've had a similar problem. I proposed a trail run that would use U of Md campus, but they didn't want to give a permit to an outside group. I tried to entice a couple of campus groups to sponsor the event, but they couldn't do it for a variety of reasons. (i.e. I feel your pain!)

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