Before many members of the Class of 2014 begin their first classes at the College, they will experience a whirlwind of pre-orientation and orientation programming planned by the College and the student-run Orientation Team. This year's new health-related programming will include the sexual assault awareness program "Sex Signals" and the online alcohol education program MyStudentBody, which replaces the AlcoholEdu program.
As in most years, performances at the Hopkins Center for the Arts will showcase student dance and a capella groups during Orientation, according to Tatiana Cooke '12, a co-chair of the College's orientation team.
Cooke is a member of The Dartmouth staff.
The O-Team made up of 11 upperclassman students will be on campus Sept. 10-20 to run and organize events for freshmen students, Cooke said.
"What's cool about Orientation is that it's almost all student organized," she said. "We're the ones who do all of the programming."
Cooke added that the team also plans to schedule a field day event and, with potential collaboration from Friday Night Rock, an outdoor concert.
Before incoming students can participate in these recreational activities, however, the College will require them to complete two online programs the Dartmouth Alcohol Program and MyStudentBody to fulfill their alcohol education requirement.
DAP will offer a "very short rundown" of Dartmouth-specific information and assess students on their comprehension, including the College's Good Samaritan policy and New Hampshire state law regarding alcohol abuse, Presidential Fellow William Schpero '10 said in an interview with The Dartmouth. MyStudentBody, on the other hand, is a "much longer" and more expansive program, Schpero said.
"One of the great things about MyStudentBody as opposed to AlcoholEdu that we used a few years ago is that it's something that students will have access to during their whole time at Dartmouth," he said. "It provides information about alcohol but also a lot of other issues the only part that we're requiring students to complete and that we're tracking is alcohol."
Schpero is a former member of The Dartmouth Senior Staff.
Students will be required to complete the program before orientation begins, Schpero said.
Once on campus, students will be required to attend a panel discussion that will bring together individuals from the College and community who have various roles and experiences regarding alcohol.
The panel will include several students an abstainer, a member of a Greek organization, a student who has invoked the Good Sam policy for a friend and another who was the recipient of a Good Sam call, according to Schpero.
Following the student panel, incoming freshmen will be addressed by a Hanover Police officer and a College representative, Schpero said.
To better educate and protect students in the realm of sexual assault and abuse, the College will provide three performances of "Sex Signals," Kristin Baxivanos, interim Sexual Abuse Awareness Program coordinator, said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
The show described on its website as a "funny show about date rape" aims to "dissolve enduring rape myths and encourage thoughtful, accountable, intimate behavior," according to the website.
Attendance at one of the shows will be mandatory and, while there, students will be encouraged to respond to the interactive, improvisational performance, Baxivanos said.
After the show, freshmen will break into small discussion groups led by members of various student groups with the "experience needed to lead campus dialogue," Baxivanos said.
Follow-up programs will be offered later in the year to encourage further discussion of sexual abuse, she said.
"Our incoming freshmen haven't had the benefit of experience in other words, they're not familiar with the campus social scene, much less with how to orient themselves on campus," she said.
Further steps will be taken to ensure that students develop an understanding of healthy habits before the term is underway, Schpero said.
"We plan to work with [undergraduate advisors] and [Dartmouth Outing Club] trip leaders to help better educate first-year students about what resources are available, what the norms are," he said.
Staff writer Emma Fidel contributed to the reporting of this article.
