The faculty will vote at a meeting this afternoon on whether to shorten next year's Orientation schedule by three days, as recommended last month by a review committee and University officials.
If approved, Orientation would begin on Sunday, Sept. 2, and classes would begin Wednesday, Sept. 5. First-years would move in over Labor Day weekend, according to the plan. If the faculty rejects the proposal, Orientation would begin Wednesday, Aug. 29, and classes would begin Tuesday, Sept. 4, a schedule similar to previous years.
The University's academic calendar is part of the faculty rules and regulations, so any change requires a vote of approval by the faculty.
The proposal to change Orientation from six days to three is a result of recommendations from a review committee formed last October by Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron and Interim Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Russell Carey '91 MA'06.
Carey wrote in an e-mail to The Herald that he couldn't predict how the faculty would vote on the proposal, but he added that "the feedback we have received so far from faculty on the review committee, department chairs and the Faculty Executive Committee has been favorable."
Carey said last month that in order for administrators to implement the new Orientation schedule this year, the faculty must approve the calendar change at today's meeting. If the faculty rejects the proposal today, a new Orientation schedule could not be implemented this fall, he said.
The committee also recommended that incoming first-years be assigned required summer reading but only briefly discussed the possibility of some type of community-building, service-oriented or arts-based pre-orientation program, citing cost concerns. The committee also declined to change the schedule for the Third World Transition Program, a four-day pre-orientation program geared toward students of color, which will now be longer than the general Orientation.
"The committee did not feel the need to spend a great deal of time on the issue of the TWTP as this has been the subject of much debate in the past and was reviewed in January 2005," the committee's report said. "The overall feeling of the committee was that the TWTP should be revisited in the future to see how well it relates to the new configuration of Orientation."
Officials have cited several reasons why a shorter Orientation would benefit the College, including lower costs, less unscheduled time in which students might consume alcohol, a more convenient move-in schedule and greater faculty involvement in advising.
Administrators say the increased advising would be facilitated by an organized "First Weekend" - the first weekend after Orientation - which would include departmental open houses and co-curricular activities that were previously included in the full six-day Orientation.
Also, most faculty would be needed on-campus on the Saturday and Sunday after Labor Day weekend instead of the Thursday and Friday before, meaning a shortened Orientation could extend professors' Labor Day holiday.
The Undergraduate Council of Students' executive board discussed the proposed changes several times, and the issue came up once at a general body meeting, but ultimately UCS decided not to plan any action supporting or challenging the changes, said Brian Becker '09, chair of the UCS Campus Life committee and a member of the Orientation review committee.
"I don't think most students who are here already will really care because it doesn't affect them. I do think it will create a better atmosphere for the first few weeks of school," Becker said.
But some students say a shorter Orientation would reduce first-years' opportunity to build confidence by acquiring some measure ownership of the campus. "I really don't think a shorter Orientation is a good idea because it's imperative that we have time to get used to the campus and each other," Kara Segal '10 said. "It helps develop a strong sense of what it means to go to Brown."
