Vol.25, No. 01	Sept. 3, 1999

First-Years Greeted With a ‘Disneyland’ of Events

As 2,000 new undergraduates arrive on campus this week, Lerner Hall is headquarters for the student-run orientation committee that has planned no fewer than 100 citywide events, requiring the help of 260 upperclass volunteers.

Lerner is, simply, abuzz.

The committee’s core members are 12 students who have spent their entire summer preparing to welcome the new students of Columbia College, Barnard and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.

They’ve spent so many late nights and early mornings in Lerner Hall that it’s beginning to feel like their second home. They’ve filled up the marker boards with announcements and messages and papered the walls of their office/headquarters with scrawl-filled newsprint. A clipped ad on the wall reads: Go-Go Action Drinks. One wonders how many Go-Go Action drinks the group has consumed in the 3 months of preparation for the week of activities.

The Orientation Committee, aka NSOP (for New Student Orientation Program) is in charge of programming events, designing publications, organizing huge volunteer crews and making sure that all 2,000 incoming first-year and transfer students feel like Columbia is their new home.

“It’s fun and rewarding to work on Orientation because we try to overcome some of the barriers about being nervous and scared—we respond to many E-mails and letters every day,” said Deborah Haight, SEAS ‘00, one of two Orientation coordinators. “Being a part of the planning is amazing. We see plans go from paper to a kind of Disneyland of activities.”

Orientation starts with move-in and a reception for families, and continues for an entire week until the first day of classes, Sept. 7. Many of the activities take place in the new student center. One of the largest events—new for Orientation ‘99—is Glam 2003, a dance party and celebration of diversity, with multi-cultural music, film, dancing and food, which takes place on Sept. 1. Students will be able to utilize the presently completed public space—including the auditorium, ramps and ramp lounges—and be the first class to experience ownership of the newest student space on campus.

“We believe that the opening of the new Alfred Lerner Hall will only enhance the way students communicate with each other, and become the hub for community interactions,” said Chris Colombo, dean of Student Affairs. “The New Student Orientation Program committee will use the hall to help deliver their message that we are a caring, purposeful and celebrative community.”

In total, the NSOP committee has scheduled over 100 events and activities in seven days. New students can go on walking tours all over the city—to places such Madison Avenue, Soho, Chinatown and Central Park. They can attend forums about health, safety and stress management. Students can get help hooking up their computer and Ethernet connections and figuring out how to navigate the Columbia Library System. And there is lots of time to meet other students at movies, volleyball games and a late-night boat cruise around Manhattan.

The 12 students that spent their summer planning these events are not alone in leading them, however. Twenty-four students serve as crew chiefs, each of whom direct 10 volunteers. This means that approximately 275 veterans act as chaperones, tour guides and general sounding boards for all the questions that new students ask.

The students put in so many hours because they hope to re-create the wonderful Orientation experience they had as new students.

“We’re not so far removed from this ourselves,” said Junea Williams, BC‘00. “Having faced all the challenges not so long ago, we’re just trying to help them ease their transition to college.