An “Acknowledgement of Risk and Waiver of Liability” form (“Waiver”) is used to:
- Inform prospective participants of potential risks involved with an activity
- Allow an individual to voluntarily choose to incur risks
- Secure an agreement from the individual to hold harmless the University
These forms are frequently encountered in both personal and business transactions, and such forms are useful to us because they alert us to hazards in our activities and put us on notice that we need to make arrangements to provide for ourselves if losses occur. Businesses want to alert us to situations where business liability ends and our personal liability begins.
University employees are covered, subject to exclusions, if their actions cause bodily injury or property damage to "third parties". Students are required to retain their own personal liability coverage. This is similar to a business that purchases “Commercial General Liability” to cover its business operations, but there is no expectation that this commercial coverage would extend to cover the personal liability of its customers. At the University our students are our customers.
Students are not covered under this agreement.