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As she welcomed 1,599 new students in a ceremony on the Main Green Sunday, President Ruth Simmons told the class of 2011 that they would change Brown - and should expect to be changed themselves.
"You must be ready to absorb what you encounter as you have never before," she said.
Speaking about the power of education, Simmons encouraged first-years to seek out knowledge, go beyond their academic comfort zone and realize how much they have left to learn, rather than working on what comes naturally to them.
When students leave Brown, Simmons said, she hopes they can say, "I have finally learned how little I know."
Of the 1,599 newly registered students that Simmons welcomed, 1,486 are freshmen, 56 are transfer students, eight are in the Resumed Undergraduate Education program and 49 are visiting students from other institutions.
"We deliberately shape the composition of our campus so that you can have the essential and increasingly important world experience that is dominated today not by sameness, but by diversity," Simmons told those gathered on Sunday.
Dean of the College Katherine Bergeron and Undergraduate Council of Students President Michael Glassman '09 also spoke at the ceremony, which kicked off a new, abbreviated Orientation schedule that continues through the first week of classes.
First-years arrived this weekend for the first three days of Orientation and, as in years past, attended mandatory meetings on alcohol policy and the University's historic connections with the slave trade. An Activities Fair will be held Thursday and events will continue next weekend, which has been dubbed "First Weekend."
Classes will begin Wednesday, when the traditional opening convocation for the academic year will be held at noon on the Main Green and new students will march through the Van Wickle Gates.
Carol Cohen '83, interim assistant dean of the College and coordinator of Orientation's academic activities, said that so far, the new Orientation schedule "has resulted in a tighter and more purposeful orientation program."
Remaining from last year's schedule was an "information expo" held Sunday to address parents' and students' questions about academic life. Also remaining from last year's Orientation schedule are the carnival, superhero dance and Big Ma's Talent Show, which will be held on the Main Green Friday evening.
If freshmen weren't thrilled about dressing up as their favorite superhero and dancing Monday night, they could attend "games night" in Faunce House's Petteruti Lounge, hosted by the Orientation Welcoming Committee.
Tonight, first-years can participate in "Orientation Idol," judged by faculty members, Glassman and members of the dining hall staff.
"They've cooked up a bunch of random activities to get us to meet each other," said Jenny Molyneaux '11, a first-year from Austin, Texas who arrived on campus Sunday morning and moved into New Pembroke 4. But, she said, it seems to have worked well overall.
Molyneaux said she likes that orientation has been relaxed and there have not been too many required events.
Though the new schedule still needs to be formally evaluated, Senior Associate Dean for Student Life Allen Wardsaid Monday afternoon that things are going well.
Many students moved in early on Saturday, which Ward said gave them an opportunity to settle in. "People had all day to move in. They didn't have any formal orientation events they had to get to, so it was a relaxed atmosphere," he said.
Ward said he has received positive feedback from parents and students about orientation activities, especially the information expo.
New York native Erin Alpert '11 said she liked the humorous approach organizers took in the alcohol awareness talk, where students were asked to turn to the student next to them and describe an alcohol-related experience of their own. Overall, Alpert said she has been pleased with Orientation. "It's interesting," she said. "They have a lot of different options and activities."
Another new addition to Orientation was a Monday seminar in which students discussed their required summer reading, "How Proust Can Change Your Life: Not a Novel" by Alain de Botton. While previous classes have had recommended reading, this year's class was required to read the book and write an essay to be read by their academic advisor. The exercise will help advisors identify weak writers in need of coursework to meet Brown's writing requirement, which mandates proficiency by graduation.
Bergeron referenced the reading in her welcoming remarks on Sunday, urging students to use their time at the University wisely. She said students should ask themselves "not what you think you will do with your time at Brown, but what that time ought to be doing for you."
Bergeron told first-years not to think of their time at Brown in terms of what accomplishments they can check off, but "to take the time to reflect expansively on your experience each step of the way - to think about what you have done, what you are about to do, and why."
Glassman reminded new students of the power Brown gives them, the opportunity to influence their own experience and the University as a whole.
"Undergraduates are the heart of this place," he said.
Glassman said Brown not only lets students choose what classes they will take but really lets them shape their whole college experience. "Brown is all about letting you carve your own path," he said.
At the close of her speech, Simmons told the entering students to "work until it hurts and play until you can laugh no more."
"This is truly a time of pain, laughter and learning, for they go together well," she said. "Welcome. Welcome to this funny, miraculous, challenging, wonderful world. I am so pleased that you are here."
