“So it’s RAH, RAH, Car’lina ‘lina, RAH, RAH, Car’lina ‘lina, RAH, RAH, Car’lina GO TO H*LL DUKE!”
When we came to orientation we knew that we’d learn our amazing fight song. We expected to pick out the restaurants on Franklin that we’d frequent once we stepped foot on campus. We knew, for a fact, that we would find our dorms more quickly than we did during our first, post-acceptance visit. What we didn’t know, however, is the climate we would be greeted by when we stepped foot on the quad our first day of campus. We didn’t know what issues and tensions would spill over into our academic year.
We may have had an idea, but you can only gather so much from headlines and brief conversations.
Summer orientation is difficult to run, already. With only a couple of days allotted for teaching students and soothing/informing parents in preparation for year one at Carolina.
However, being prepared for registering for classes and understanding the racial climate on campus can have an equal impact on a new student. To be clear, this is not to say that the two are equal in all realms, since being enrolled in classes is the single most important idenfier in classifying any student.
Attempting to navigate life as a full-time student in a racial tense environment can have a detrimental affect on anyone — especially a first year student.
Sessions are already structured to arm students with the maximum amount of information possible before fall, but during the down time and walking to and from sessions, there is room to inform.
It wouldn’t have to be a formal presentation with a Q&A to follow, but something. At the bare minimum, those involved with orientation should strive to enlighten new students. This isn’t limited to orientation leaders, either.
For those who happen to run into a student, and organizations that participate in orientation in some form, you have the opportunity and access as well.
