U. approves extended orientation

New Student Orientation will now be three days longer, with classes starting one day later than originally planned. This fall, incoming freshmen can expect an orientation that will familiarize them with Penn student life, Philadelphia culture and University advising. And they will arrive on campus three days earlier than usual to do so. The Council of Undergraduate Deans voted Tuesday to extend New Student Orientation for three days -- making it a week long -- beginning in the fall of 2000. University President Judith Rodin also approved the calendar changes. But the lengthening of NSO will cause significant changes to the Fall 2000 academic calender. Freshman move-in will begin on Thursday, August 31, two days earlier than the usual Saturday move-in. School will also start a day later than usual on Thursday, September 7. Fall break, originally scheduled to occur on both Monday and Tuesday, October 16 and 17, has been shortened to one day and moved to Friday, October 13. The revamped orientation will place a heavier emphasis on academic advising and will include a cultural component that will allow students to explore Philadelphia both in an educational and social context. "[NSO is] the front door through which hundreds of students enter the University," Deputy Provost and CUD chairman Peter Conn said. "We have to make it as stimulating and rich as possible." Besides proposing changes to the academic calendar, the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education and the Undergraduate Assembly have also been discussing the project's expenses. According to Conn, cost will be kept to a minimum, but he did not offer any specifics on how much NSO will cost. The proposal was drafted and presented by UA member and Dave Burd and SCUE member Lindsey Mathews, who originally presented the proposal to CUD in November. "This is more that I could have hoped for," said Burd, a College and Wharton sophomore. "[It's] a large step forward ensuring that freshmen get a full orientation experience." The specific day-to-day event schedule for NSO has not yet been set. Two committees -- an NSO steering committee and an operations committee, both composed of students, faculty members and administrators -- have been charged with implementing the proposal and will start work this week. While the official NSO agenda has not been decided, Conn said the agenda will likely hold some similarities to the proposal created by SCUE and the UA, which outlined a broad range of educational and advising opportunities. Conn and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Beeman, a CUD member, both said they believed that SCUE and the UA had done a terrific job on the project. "All of us were persuaded that NSO had to be extended as well as improved," Conn said.