A new pre-orientation program?

Penn students like green, and they're not waiting until incoming students get here to spread the message.

Members of the Undergraduate Assembly passed a proposal last Sunday evening supporting the creation of an environmentally themed pre-orientation program. The proposal was brought to the assembly by College freshman and UA member Albert Pak and Wharton sophomore and Penn Environmental Group Co-Administrative Chair Laura Boudreau.

The program, which would be called "PennGREEN: Live Green. (play dirty.)" seeks to provide incoming students with an introduction to Philadelphia through bike tours, urban farm visits and local organic restaurant outings; to the University through green facilities tours and discussions with professors involved in environmental research; and to like-minded peers through hikes, camping trips and beach cleanups.

The University currently has four other pre-orientation programs, including PENNacle, which is also partially funded by the UA.

According to Boudreau and Pak, the idea behind PennGreen originated from a leader of PennQuest, the outdoor pre-orientation program. It was a response to the popularity of current programs, which received a record number of applicants this past summer and have had to turn away up to half, as in the case of PennQuest.

An environmentally themed program was considered "an outlet that wasn't being addressed by current programs," Boudreau said. The program also follows on the heels of increased recent commitments by the UA and the Penn administration to environmental policies and activities.

PennGreen's pilot program to train the future program leaders is set to launch this summer, and the official program will begin next summer with 40 students. Boudreau and Pak said PennGreen received positive feedback from University administration as well as students to whom they spoke.

The Penn Environmental Group will be responsible for much of the planning and itinerary behind the program. In addition to urging the administration to create such a program, the UA will work as a liaison between the planning group and the administration for the program, as well as possibly providing financial assistance.

"The demand is so immediate that we want to get this program rolling," Boudreau said.

Also passed at the meeting was an academic grievances proposal, which will increase student knowledge of the University's official academic grievance procedure for grading disputes and other conflicts, through a clearly detailed instructions sheet.

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