THE UPEI SUN,Thursday,Ma;»ch 22,1979,pase 2

Orientation :

by Rick Teersteeg

Orientatim - what does it mean? Well, one of the several definitions fotmd in the dictimary states as follows:

An introduction to an unfamiliar situatim: guidance in experience or activity of a new kind.

With this particular meaning in mind the Orient- ation Committee for 19 79 has set out to develop a program for next September. The aim of this project is twofold: to introduce the new students to all the available facilities here at UPEI and. also to make them aware of the "social" aspects of university life. It is with the latter of these objectives that this article is primarily concerned.

In previous years, as most of you know, Orienta- tion Week for freshmen students had been sdneduled to take place the week immediately preceding the comnecement of classes. For Orientation '79 this ideas has been dropped in favour of re—scheduling the program for the first week of classes, from Tuesday, September ll through Sunday, September 16. It is hoped that this dqange will greatly increase

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participation in the orientation program of three main groups of people:

1) incoming freshmen (only about 50% of last year's Freshman Class registered for Orientatio1 Week) ,

2) returning students, and 3) professors.

The need for Freshman participation is a logical and self-eicplanatory aspect of any orientation event, therefore no time shall be spent on that particular item. It would, homever, appear that most upperclassmen and prof— essors are of the opinion that,they have no role to play in Orientation. The fact that only a handful of returning students (usually just those on the Orientatioi Committee) and maybe five or six professors get involved in Orientatim would seem to prove this thought. It is the intent of this year's committee to

dispel that belief and to,

with your help, increase the participation of both these groups of people.

This article is not trying to suggest that the students and professors of UPEI are unfeeling with no concern for ead'l new

‘ year‘s Freshman Class.

Rather, it is felt. involve—

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merit of these people in Orientation has been lacking due to' the scheduling of the event.

It is naturally inojnven— ient for returning students, most of whom preregister

by mail, to return to UPEI a week early simply to participate in the orientatim of a new crop of students. Professors are usually involved in course planning and last minute meetings with various committees whidi makes it difficult for them to get involved. It is for these reasons that Orientation ' 79 has been moved to the first week _ of classes. Nbst returning students are back by this time and most professors have, hopefully at least, completed their course out- lines and curricula. Thus, any viable reason other than death or emergency

has been removed for the lack of participation of students and staff in Orientatim ' 79.

Why, you may ask, should anybody other than the members of the Orientation Committee get involved in the activities? Well, the number one answer to this question is "Initiatiol". How many of you can remmber what your

. initiation consisted of?

Chances are you can'tif you are a student here today, mainly because there have been no Initiation Nights at UPEI during the last three (and possibly more) years. The one main factor that has been lacking in order to have a successful initiatim is upperclassé men (people?) who must see that the initiation task assigned each new student is carried out. For in-

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stance,if a freshman for— gets his/her cap or T—shirt, he/she might be assigned the task of cleaning President' Meincke's hubcaps with a toothbrush or some other like task. Well, with only about ten people on

' the Orientation Committee

and a suspected 400—odd freshmen, it is just a little too difficult to see that each freshman carries out his task! However, if even one half the upper— classmen would spend ten or fifteen minutes a day supervising these activi- ties and signing a "Task Completed" card, no freshman could Shirk his assigned duties. With cooperation in this area it would be possible to have a"Punishment Night" during which the

freshmen who didn't in a signed "Task Completed" card would be subjected to punishment slightly more severe than his previously assigned task.

This particular segment of Orientation Initiatim, has been almost completely lacking here at UPEI over the last few years. What

. makes this so bad is

l) the emectations of

the Frosh as to what their initiatim will consist of and 2) the stories of fantastic initiations at Dal., St. Mary's, St. F.X. etc. , which find their way to UPEI. So, let's get everyme involved in Orientaticn '79 and make it a time every new Freshman will remember. There will be in future SUNS, a tentative sdledule for Orientatim ' 79 so that those of you who are interested will be able to choose the area(s) you would like to get involved

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