Communication with Students about Orientation Activities

Penny Rue, Vice President for Campus Life, and Christy Buchanan, Associate Dean for Academic Advising, have sent a message to incoming first-year students about Orientation and other campus activities this weekend.

Steve Hirst, Director of Student Engagement, and Annie Carlson-Welch, Associate Director of Student Engagement, have sent a message to fraternity and sorority leaders about on-campus events this weekend.

We wanted parents and families to have the same information that has been shared with the students.  Their messages are below.

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Message to Incoming Students
Orientation 2014
Distributed: August 21, 2014

Welcome to our newest Demon Deacons!

We are delighted you have arrived for New Student Orientation. The Orientation program is designed to provide a strong foundation for your college experience and meaningfully connect you with the people and resources you will need to succeed at Wake Forest University. It is important that you spend your first days in our community fully engaged with the Orientation program and other members of the Class of 2018. For these reasons, it is our expectation that you attend only those events listed on the Orientation schedule.

So that returning students can reconnect, the University has allowed student organizations to host their own on-campus social events on Sunday night. However, these events conflict with Orientation activities and are therefore closed to new students. We have asked our returning students to respect the importance of your involvement in Orientation, and decline from involving you in these events. For the best interest of all involved, we ask that you respect this boundary. There will be plenty of time for you to meet and connect with returning students following Orientation.

We strongly believe that your full participation in the Orientation program is important to your success in College and will help you start your Demon Deacon experience off on a positive note. We hope you have a great experience as you move in to your new home.

Go Deacs!

Penny Rue, Vice President for Campus Life

Christy Buchanan, Associate Dean for Academic Advising

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Message to Returning Leaders
Orientation 2014
Distributed: August 22, 2014

Fraternity and Sorority Leaders,

As a fraternity and sorority community, it is important that we start the year strong and promote a positive image of fraternity and sorority life at Wake. To do this, we need to work together to responsibly plan and manage social events in a way that minimizes the risk of harm or disruption in the community. With students returning to Wake while a campus-wide orientation program is in progress, this is an especially important task.

In an effort to avoid behavioral and safety concerns that clouded our community last year, we have several expectations to set the right tone for the year:

– Please help us ensure that first year students are not attending parties on or off campus prior to Friday, August 29th (first night for campus-wide parties), inclusive of communication and marketing events that coincide with orientation.

– Please do not shuttle first year students to off campus parties. This is dangerous for everyone involved.

– Please take active steps to minimize disruption to Wake’s new students who are on campus for the orientation program. We strongly believe that their full participation in planned programs and activities is important to their success at Wake Forest University. For this reason, we have actively discouraged them from participating in any event that conflicts with the orientation schedule. For the best interest of all involved, we ask for your help in respecting this boundary.

– On campus events are permitted for returning students on Sunday, August 24th from 10pm-2am. We encourage you to view this opportunity as a gathering to reconnect with friends and discourage you from viewing these events as the first back to school bash. Given the very tight timeline, all events must be registered no later than 10am Saturday, August 23rd. The binders will be available by Sunday at noon outside the entrance to the new Office of the Dean of Students on the first floor of Benson (on the same floor as mail services). This is an important opportunity for our chapters to demonstrate the capacity to manage safe events. As such, please ensure your organization is following the event management guidelines and registering the events with only previously trained and certified event hosts. For your convenience, we have attached the list of certified event hosts from last spring that are approved to assist with events occurring this Sunday.

As your advisors, we ask for your leadership and assistance with these concerns. We are excited to welcome you back to campus and look forward to an important year for our fraternity and sorority community. As always, we remain committed to helping each of you achieve your goals as leaders in our community and look forward to a great year with you!

Best,

Annie and Steve